Ejectable flight data recorder systems, methods, and devices

ABSTRACT

An ejectable flight data recorder for robust retention of flight data and aiding in locating an aircraft after an emergency situation comprises: a buoyant housing comprising an internal cavity, a door for access to at least a portion of the internal cavity, and an aerodynamic outer shape having a longitudinal axis; an energy-dissipating nose cone for reducing an impact load on the housing when the flight data recorder impacts a water surface; a nonvolatile memory configured to store flight data; a position sensor for detecting a geographic position of the flight data recorder; a radio transmitter; an antenna electrically coupled to the radio transmitter; a sustainable power system; and a hydrophone for acoustically tracking a sinking trajectory of the aircraft in a body of water.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/581,709, titled EJECTABLE FLIGHT DATA RECORDER SYSTEMS, METHODS, ANDDEVICES, filed on Apr. 28, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/451,516, titled SYSTEMS, METHODS, ANDDEVICES FOR AIRCRAFT EMERGENCIES, filed on Jan. 27, 2017. Each of theforegoing applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND Field

This disclosure relates generally to systems, methods, and devices forrecovery of flight data and locating an aircraft in the event of anaircraft mishap or other emergency situation.

Description

Several commercial jets have gone missing in the past few years, and theprotracted searches for the black boxes are presenting new demands foraviation security and rescue. For example, in the high profiledisappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, search and rescue wereunable to locate where exactly the plane crashed, and the black box isyet to be found. In view of the foregoing, there are needs for systems,methods, and devices for locating a crashed aircraft and retrieving datastored in a flight data recorder more quickly and efficiently.

SUMMARY

The disclosure herein provides systems, methods, and devices forretention of flight data in the event of a flight emergency and foraiding in locating the ejected flight data recorder and/or the sunken orcrashed aircraft after the emergency. In some embodiments, an ejectableflight data recorder system comprises an ejectable module that storesflight data and comprises various features that enable the ejectablemodule to be robust and remain powered for extended periods of timeafter ejection. For example, some embodiments comprise multiplesustainable power sources, such as, for example, solar power, motionharvesting energy creation, saltwater energy creation, and/or the like.As another example, some embodiments comprise an aerodynamic shapehaving an energy dissipating nose cone. Further, some embodiments ofejectable modules disclosed herein comprise an acoustic search systemconfigured to be deployed after the ejectable module lands in a body ofwater. The acoustic search system can comprise one or more hydrophones,sonar, or other devices or sensors configured to track a sinkingtrajectory of the aircraft by tracking the sound of an underwaterlocator beacon or other source of sound as the aircraft descends.

The disclosure herein further provides systems, methods, and devices forcausing an ejectable flight data recorder system to eject an ejectablemodule at a desirable time, but to not eject to the ejectable module atother times when it would be less desirable to eject the ejectablemodule. For example, some embodiments disclosed herein comprise anarming controller that is configured to selectively arm and disarm theejection system, with the arming controller configured to disarm thesystem when the aircraft is at a position where launching or ejecting ofthe ejectable module may have a higher likelihood of harming bystandersand/or when the aircraft is in a position where it is more likely thatthe aircraft will be relatively easily found after the emergency event.As another example, some embodiments disclosed herein comprise anejection controller configured to monitor one or more sensors and/oraircraft flight data, and to control launching of an ejectable moduleresponsive to detection of various ejection conditions or emergencyconditions. In some embodiments, the ejection controller is configuredto respond differently to different ejection conditions. For example,the ejection controller may be configured to immediately cause theejectable module to be launched responsive to the ejection controllerdetecting a probable explosion of the aircraft. As another example, theejection controller may be configured to delay causing the ejectablemodule to be ejected when an aircraft is experiencing an emergency eventthat is ongoing and is not likely to result in an imminent crash. Theejection controller may be configured to monitor such a situation andcause the ejectable module to be deployed or launched just before acrash or impact occurs. Such a configuration can be desirable, forexample, in order to keep the ejectable module relatively close to theaircraft impact site and/or to increase the survivability chances of theejectable module. Various other features and benefits of systems,methods, and devices as disclosed herein are given below.

According to some embodiments, an ejectable flight data recorder forrobust retention of flight data and aiding in locating an aircraft afteran emergency situation comprises: a buoyant housing comprising aninternal cavity, a door for access to at least a portion of the internalcavity, and an aerodynamic outer shape having a longitudinal axis; anenergy-dissipating nose cone for reducing an impact load on the housingwhen the flight data recorder impacts a water surface, theenergy-dissipating nose cone being aligned with the longitudinal axisand comprising a proximal end and a distal end, wherein theenergy-dissipating nose cone comprises an outer shape that tapers from alarger size at the proximal end to a smaller size at the distal end toredirect at least a portion of the impact load when the flight datarecorder impacts the water surface in an orientation where thelongitudinal axis is between horizontal and vertical, wherein a firstportion of the nose cone adjacent the proximal end is coupled to thehousing, and a second portion of the nose cone distal to the firstportion is positioned covering, but not in contact with, an exteriorsurface of the housing, the second portion of the nose cone comprising aplurality of interconnected voids to enable crumpling of the secondportion to absorb energy when the ejectable flight data recorder impactsthe water surface; a nonvolatile memory positioned within the internalcavity of the housing, the nonvolatile memory configured to store flightdata; a position sensor for detecting a geographic position of theflight data recorder; a radio transmitter positioned within the internalcavity of the housing; an antenna electrically coupled to the radiotransmitter, wherein the radio transmitter is configured to transmit viathe antenna data comprising at least the geographic position of theflight data recorder; a sustainable power system for powering at leastthe radio transmitter, the sustainable power system comprising a batteryand a charging system; and a hydrophone for acoustically tracking asinking trajectory of the aircraft in a body of water, the hydrophonepositioned within the internal cavity of the housing and configured tobe deployable from the housing through the door of the housing andsuspended beneath the housing after a water landing of the ejectableflight data recorder.

In some embodiments, the position sensor comprises a global positioningsystem (GPS) sensor. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight datarecorder further comprises a smooth cover positioned over at least thesecond portion of the energy-dissipating nose cone. In some embodiments,the plurality of interconnected voids of the nose cone comprises ahoneycomb configuration. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight datarecorder further comprises a compressible material positioned betweensecond portion of the nose cone and the exterior surface of the housing.In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises a water sensor configured to detect a water landing of theejectable flight data recorder and to cause deployment of thehydrophone. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorderfurther comprises one or more computer processors programmed to analyzeacoustic information received by the hydrophone to estimate the sinkingtrajectory of the aircraft in the body of water, and wherein the radiotransmitter is further configured to transmit via the antenna datacomprising the estimated sinking trajectory of the aircraft. In someembodiments, the hydrophone is a directional hydrophone. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises: atleast one additional hydrophone positioned within the internal cavity ofthe housing and configured to be deployable from the housing; and ahydrophone separation structure comprising a spring positioned toseparate the hydrophones from each other after deployment from thehousing. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises: an orientation sensor for detecting an orientation of thehousing. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises: an orientation sensor for detecting an orientation of thehydrophone. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorderfurther comprises: at least one additional antenna, wherein the antennaseach comprise a different orientation. In some embodiments, the antennais hingedly connected to the housing, and the antenna is configured torotate outwardly from the housing after the water landing of theejectable flight data recorder. In some embodiments, the charging systemof the sustainable power system comprises at least one of a solar panel,a saltwater iconic power generator, an electrochemical power generator,an osmotic power generator, or a kinetic energy generator. In someembodiments, the charging system of the sustainable power systemcomprises at least two of a solar panel, a saltwater iconic powergenerator, an electrochemical power generator, an osmotic powergenerator, or a kinetic energy generator. In some embodiments, theejectable flight data recorder further comprises one or more computerprocessors programmed to cause a timing between radio transmissions bythe radio transmitter to depend at least partially on a current energylevel of the battery or a current charging capacity of the chargingsystem. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises the aircraft, wherein the housing is positioned within alaunching tube adjacent a fuselage of the aircraft.

According to some embodiments, an ejectable flight data recorder forrobust retention of flight data and aiding in locating an aircraft afteran emergency situation comprises: a buoyant housing comprising aninternal cavity, a door for access to at least a portion of the internalcavity, and an aerodynamic outer shape; a nonvolatile memory positionedwithin the internal cavity of the housing, the nonvolatile memoryconfigured to store flight data; a position sensor for detecting ageographic position of the flight data recorder; a radio transmitterpositioned within the internal cavity of the housing; an antennaelectrically coupled to the radio transmitter; a sustainable powersystem for powering at least the radio transmitter, the sustainablepower system comprising a battery and a charging system; two or morehydrophones for acoustically tracking a sinking trajectory of theaircraft in a body of water, the hydrophones positioned within theinternal cavity of the housing and configured to be deployable from thehousing through the door of the housing and suspended beneath thehousing after a water landing of the ejectable flight data recorder; ahydrophone separation structure comprising a spring positioned toseparate the hydrophones from each other after deployment from thehousing; and one or more computer processors programmed to analyzeacoustic data generated by the hydrophones to estimate the sinkingtrajectory of the aircraft in the body of water, wherein the radiotransmitter is configured to transmit via the antenna data comprising atleast the geographic position of the flight data recorder and theestimated sinking trajectory of the aircraft.

In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises a water sensor configured to detect a water landing of theejectable flight data recorder and to cause deployment of thehydrophones. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorderfurther comprises one or more orientation sensors coupled to thehydrophones for detecting orientations of the hydrophones.

According to some embodiments, an ejectable flight data recorder forrobust retention of flight data and aiding in locating an aircraft afteran emergency situation comprises: a buoyant housing comprising aninternal cavity and an aerodynamic outer shape having a longitudinalaxis; an energy-dissipating nose cone for reducing an impact load on thehousing when the flight data recorder impacts a water surface, theenergy-dissipating nose cone being aligned with the longitudinal axisand comprising a proximal end and a distal end, wherein theenergy-dissipating nose cone comprises an outer shape that tapers from alarger size at the proximal end to a smaller size at the distal end toredirect at least a portion of the impact load when the flight datarecorder impacts the water surface in an orientation where thelongitudinal axis is between horizontal and vertical, wherein a firstportion of the nose cone adjacent the proximal end is coupled to thehousing, and a second portion of the nose cone distal to the firstportion is positioned covering, but not in contact with, an exteriorsurface of the housing, the second portion of the nose cone comprising aplurality of interconnected voids to enable crumpling of the secondportion to absorb energy when the flight data recorder impacts theground or water surface; a smooth cover positioned over at least thesecond portion of the energy-dissipating nose cone; a nonvolatile memorypositioned within the internal cavity of the housing, the nonvolatilememory configured to store flight data; a position sensor for detectinga geographic position of the flight data recorder; a radio transmitterpositioned within the internal cavity of the housing; and an antennaelectrically coupled to the radio transmitter, wherein the radiotransmitter is configured to transmit via the antenna data comprising atleast the geographic position of the flight data recorder.

According to some embodiments, a system for ejecting a flight datarecorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation comprises: a flightdata recorder disposed within a launching tube, the flight data recorderconfigured to be ejectable from the launching tube, the flight datarecorder comprising a nonvolatile memory for storing flight data; anejection system comprising a stored energy source configured to causerapid ejection of the flight data recorder from the launching tube whenthe ejection system is triggered; and an emergency detection systemcomprising: a plurality of sensors configured to generate at leastaltitude data and position data; an arming controller for automaticallyarming and disarming the ejection system based at least in part on thealtitude data and the position data, wherein the arming controller isconfigured to dynamically arm the ejection system below a lowerthreshold altitude, disarm the ejection system between the lowerthreshold altitude and an upper threshold altitude, and arm the ejectionsystem above the upper threshold altitude, and wherein the armingcontroller is configured to dynamically disarm the ejection systemwithin a threshold distance from a geographic location; and an ejectioncontroller for automatically triggering the ejection system responsiveto detection of one or more of a plurality of ejection conditions, theplurality of ejection conditions comprising ejection conditions groupedinto at least two levels of authority, wherein the ejection controlleris configured to, responsive to detection of an ejection conditionhaving a lower level of authority, trigger the ejection system only ifthe ejection system is armed, and wherein the ejection controller isconfigured to, responsive to detection of an ejection condition having ahigher level of authority, trigger the ejection system regardless of acurrent arming state of the ejection system.

In some embodiments, the plurality of ejection conditions comprises atleast: an anticipated collision within a threshold period of time, ashock load above a threshold level, and an explosion, the explosionejection condition comprising the higher level of authority, and theanticipated collision and shock load ejection conditions comprising thelower level of authority. In some embodiments, the geographic locationcomprises one or more of a populated area, a coastline, and an airport.In some embodiments, the arming controller is configured to dynamicallydisarm the ejection system within different threshold distances from atleast two of a plurality of geographic locations. In some embodiments,the flight data recorder further comprises a visual warning systemcomprising one or more of a laser or LED light source configured toproject light from the flight data recorder after the flight datarecorder is ejected from the launching tube. In some embodiments, theflight data recorder further comprises an audible warning systemcomprising one or more holes in an exterior surface of the flight datarecorder, the one or more holes sized and positioned to cause airpassing therethrough to generate a sound as the flight data recorderdescends after being ejected from the launching tube. In someembodiments, the plurality of sensors comprises one or more of a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a wide area augmentation system (WAAS)sensor, and a VHF Omni Direction Radio Range (VOR) sensor for generatingthe position data. In some embodiments, the flight data comprises one ormore of flight parameters and cockpit voice data from a period of timeleading up to the emergency situation. In some embodiments, the storedenergy source comprises a propellant, a pressurized gas, or acombination of both. In some embodiments, the system further comprisesan aircraft comprising the flight data recorder, the ejection system,and the emergency detection system.

According to some embodiments, a system for ejecting a flight datarecorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation comprises: a flightdata recorder disposed within a launching tube, the flight data recorderconfigured to be ejectable from the launching tube, the flight datarecorder comprising a nonvolatile memory for storing flight data; anejection system comprising a stored energy source configured to causerapid ejection of the flight data recorder from the launching tube whenthe ejection system is triggered; and an emergency detection systemcomprising: a sensor interface configured to receive sensor datagenerated by a plurality of sensors, the sensor data comprising at leastposition data; an arming controller for automatically arming anddisarming the ejection system based at least in part on the positiondata, wherein the arming controller is configured to dynamically disarmthe ejection system within a first threshold distance from a firstgeographic location, and the arming controller is configured todynamically disarm the ejection system within a second thresholddistance from a second geographic location, the second thresholddistance being different than the first threshold distance; and anejection controller for automatically triggering the ejection systemresponsive to detection of one or more of a plurality of ejectionconditions, the plurality of ejection conditions comprising ejectionconditions grouped into at least two levels of authority, wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a lower level of authority, trigger theejection system only if the ejection system is armed, and wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a higher level of authority, trigger theejection system regardless of a current arming state of the ejectionsystem.

In some embodiments, the first geographic location comprises a populatedarea, the second geographic location comprises a coastline, and thefirst threshold distance is larger than the second threshold distance,and wherein the arming controller is configured to disregard the firstthreshold distance when the position data indicates the aircraft ispositioned over a body of water. In some embodiments, the flight datarecorder further comprises a visual warning system comprising one ormore of a laser or LED light source configured to project light from theflight data recorder after the flight data recorder is ejected from thelaunching tube. In some embodiments, the flight data recorder furthercomprises an audible warning system comprising one or more holes in anexterior surface of the flight data recorder, the one or more holessized and positioned to cause air passing therethrough to generate asound as the flight data recorder descends after being ejected from thelaunching tube. In some embodiments, the stored energy source comprisesa propellant, a pressurized gas, or a combination of both.

According to some embodiments, a computer-implemented method of ejectinga flight data recorder from an aircraft in an emergency situationcomprises: storing flight data in a nonvolatile memory of a flight datarecorder, the flight data recorder being disposed within a launchingtube and configured to be ejectable from the launching tube; receivingsensor data generated by a plurality of sensors, the sensor datacomprising at least position data; analyzing, by a computer system, theposition data to determine if the aircraft is within a thresholddistance from a geographic location; dynamically arming an ejectionsystem responsive to the computer system determining the aircraft is notwithin the threshold distance from the geographic location, wherein theejection system comprises a stored energy source configured to causerapid ejection of the flight data recorder from the launching tube whenthe ejection system is triggered; dynamically disarming the ejectionsystem responsive to the computer system determining the aircraft iswithin the threshold distance from the geographic location; analyzing,by the computer system, at least a portion of the sensor data todetermine if one or more of a plurality of ejection conditions hasoccurred, wherein the plurality of ejection conditions comprisesejection conditions grouped into at least two levels of authority;automatically triggering the ejection system responsive to the computersystem determining an ejection condition having a lower level ofauthority has occurred, only if the ejection system if armed; andautomatically triggering the ejection system responsive to the computersystem determining an ejection condition having a higher level ofauthority has occurred, regardless of a current arming state of theejection system.

In some embodiments, the sensor data further comprises altitude data,and the method further comprises: analyzing, by the computer system, thealtitude data to determine if the aircraft is below a lower thresholdaltitude; and dynamically arming the ejection system responsive to thecomputer system determining the aircraft is below the lower thresholdaltitude. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: analyzing,by the computer system, the altitude data to determine if the aircraftis above an upper threshold altitude; and dynamically arming theejection system responsive to the computer system determining theaircraft is above the upper threshold altitude. In some embodiments, thegeographic location comprises one or more of a populated area, acoastline, and an airport. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises: analyzing, by the computer system, the position data todetermine if the aircraft is within a different threshold distance froma different geographic location; dynamically arming the ejection systemresponsive to the computer system determining the aircraft is not withinthe different threshold distance from the different geographic location;and dynamically disarming the ejection system responsive to the computersystem determining the aircraft is within the different thresholddistance from the different geographic location.

According to some embodiments, an ejectable flight data recorder forrobust retention of flight data and aiding in locating an aircraft afteran emergency situation in a remote location over a body of watercomprises: a buoyant housing configured to provide shock and heatprotection to components positioned within the housing; a nonvolatilememory positioned within the housing, the nonvolatile memory configuredto store flight data comprising at least duplicated data from aconventional flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder; anenergy-dissipating nose cone positioned at a distal end of the housingfor reducing an impact load on the housing and components positionedwithin the housing when the ejectable flight data recorder impacts awater surface; a distress signal generating circuit positioned withinthe housing; an antenna electrically coupled to the distress signalgenerating circuit, wherein the distress signal generating circuit isconfigured to transmit via the antenna a distress signal to a satellite;and a hydrophone for acoustically tracking a sinking trajectory of theaircraft in a body of water, the hydrophone configured to be deployablefrom the housing and suspended beneath the housing after a water landingof the ejectable flight data recorder.

In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder furthercomprises a water sensor configured to detect the water landing of theejectable flight data recorder and to cause deployment of the hydrophoneand activation of the distress signal generating circuit. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises: atleast one additional hydrophone configured to be deployable from thehousing; and a hydrophone separation structure comprising a springpositioned to separate the hydrophones from each other after deploymentfrom the housing, wherein the hydrophones are configured to detect asignal transmitted by an underwater locator beacon of the aircraft. Insome embodiments, the at least one additional hydrophone comprises atleast two additional hydrophones to enable triangulation of the signaltransmitted by the underwater locator beacon of the aircraft. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises atleast one sonar sensor for tracking the sinking trajectory of theaircraft. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorderfurther comprises: a first orientation sensor for detecting anorientation of the housing with respect to an environment; and a secondorientation sensor for detecting an orientation of the hydrophone withrespect to the environment or the housing. In some embodiments, thenonvolatile memory is further configured to store data relating to anorientation and position of the ejectable flight data recorder. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises: asustainable power system for providing backup electrical power, thesustainable power system comprising a solar panel array. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises: asustainable power system for providing backup electrical power, thesustainable power system comprising an electrochemical salt watergenerator. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorderfurther comprises: a sustainable power system for providing backupelectrical power, the sustainable power system comprising a kinematicmovement based generator. In some embodiments, the antenna comprises acombination of horizontally and vertically oriented elements. In someembodiments, the housing comprises an aerodynamically stable shape. Insome embodiments, the energy-dissipating nose cone comprises a pluralityof interconnected voids to enable crumpling of the nose cone to absorbenergy when the ejectable flight data recorder impacts the watersurface, the plurality of interconnected voids comprising a honeycombconfiguration. In some embodiments, the buoyant housing comprises anaerodynamically stable shape having a longitudinal axis, the housingfurther comprising a flat outer surface oriented parallel to thelongitudinal axis, a center of gravity of the ejectable flight datarecorder being positioned such that the flat outer surface will tend tobe oriented in an upward direction when the buoyant housing is floatingin the body of water. In some embodiments, the housing comprises apolycarbonate material. In some embodiments, the housing comprises aplurality of composite materials. In some embodiments, the nonvolatilememory is further configured to store at least thirty minutes of datarelating to a position of the ejectable flight data recorder. In someembodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder further comprises one ormore position sensors for detecting a geographic position of theejectable flight data recorder, wherein the one or more position sensorscomprises at least one of the following: a global positioning system(GPS) sensor, a GLONASS sensor, an inertia based sensor, an altimeter, abarometer, or a compass. In some embodiments, the ejectable flight datarecorder further comprises a visual warning system comprising one ormore of a laser or LED light source configured to project light from theejectable flight data recorder after the ejectable flight data recorderis deployed from the aircraft. In some embodiments, the ejectable flightdata recorder further comprises an audible warning system configured togenerate a sound as the ejectable flight data recorder descends afterbeing deployed from the aircraft, the audible warning system comprisingat least one of the following: one or more holes in an exterior surfaceof the housing sized and positioned to cause air passing therethrough togenerate a sound, a whistle, a siren, or a speaker.

According to some embodiments, a system for ejecting a flight datarecorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation comprises: a flightdata recorder disposed within a launching tube, the flight data recorderconfigured to be ejectable from the launching tube, the flight datarecorder comprising a nonvolatile memory for storing flight data; anejection system comprising a stored energy source configured to causerapid ejection of the flight data recorder from the launching tube whenthe ejection system is triggered; and an emergency detection systemcomprising: a sensor interface configured to receive sensor datagenerated by a plurality of sensors, the sensor data comprising at leastposition data, altitude data, vertical speed data, and airspeed data,the plurality of sensors comprising at least a plurality of collisionsensors; an arming controller for automatically arming and disarming theejection system based at least in part on one or more of the positiondata, the altitude data, the vertical speed data, or the airspeed data,wherein the arming controller is configured to dynamically disarm theejection system within a first threshold distance from a firstgeographic location, and the arming controller is configured todynamically disarm the ejection system within a second thresholddistance from a second geographic location, the second thresholddistance being different than the first threshold distance; and anejection controller for automatically triggering the ejection systemresponsive to detection of one or more of a plurality of ejectionconditions, the plurality of ejection conditions comprising ejectionconditions grouped into at least two levels of authority, wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a lower level of authority, trigger theejection system only if the ejection system is armed, and wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a higher level of authority, trigger theejection system regardless of a current arming state of the ejectionsystem. According to some embodiments, a system for ejecting a flightdata recorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation comprises: aflight data recorder disposed within a launching tube, the flight datarecorder configured to be ejectable from the launching tube, the flightdata recorder comprising a nonvolatile memory for storing flight data;an ejection system comprising a stored energy source configured to causerapid ejection of the flight data recorder from the launching tube whenthe ejection system is triggered; and an emergency detection systemcomprising: an aircraft data bus interface configured to receiveaircraft data bus information comprising at least position data,altitude data, vertical speed data, and airspeed data; a sensorinterface configured to receive sensor data generated by a plurality ofsensors, the plurality of sensors comprising at least a plurality ofcollision sensors; an arming controller for automatically arming anddisarming the ejection system based at least in part on one or more ofthe position data, the altitude data, the vertical speed data, or theairspeed data, wherein the arming controller is configured todynamically disarm the ejection system within a first threshold distancefrom a first geographic location, and the arming controller isconfigured to dynamically disarm the ejection system within a secondthreshold distance from a second geographic location, the secondthreshold distance being different than the first threshold distance;and an ejection controller for automatically triggering the ejectionsystem responsive to detection of one or more of a plurality of ejectionconditions, the plurality of ejection conditions comprising ejectionconditions grouped into at least two levels of authority, wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a lower level of authority, trigger theejection system only if the ejection system is armed, and wherein theejection controller is configured to, responsive to detection of anejection condition having a higher level of authority, trigger theejection system regardless of a current arming state of the ejectionsystem.

In some embodiments, the arming controller is further configured todynamically arm the ejection system below a lower threshold altitude. Insome embodiments, at least one of the plurality of ejection conditionscomprises an anticipated collision within a threshold period of time,and wherein the ejection controller is configured to calculate ananticipated time to collision based on at least the altitude data andthe vertical speed data. In some embodiments, the threshold period oftime is 0.5 seconds. In some embodiments, at least one of the pluralityof ejection conditions comprises an explosion or a fire. In someembodiments, the ejection controller is configured to determine that theexplosion has occurred by detecting both of the following: a loss inmain bus power and a shock load above a threshold value. In someembodiments, the ejection controller is configured to determine that thefire has occurred by detecting both of following: a loss in main buspower and passage of a threshold amount of time without a return of themain bus power. In some embodiments, the ejection system furthercomprises a relief valve operatively positioned between the storedenergy source and the flight data recorder to enable selectiveredirection of energy released from the stored energy source away fromthe flight data recorder, wherein the arming controller is configured toautomatically cause opening of the relief valve when the aircraft is onthe ground, to avoid launching of the flight data recorder even ifenergy is released from the stored energy source, and wherein the armingcontroller is configured to automatically cause closing of the reliefvalve when the aircraft is airborne. In some embodiments, the launchingtube is positioned adjacent a fuselage of the aircraft, to enable theflight data recorder to be launched through a hole in the fuselage ofthe aircraft. In some embodiments, the launching tube is positioned suchthat the flight data recorder is configured to be launched from an areapositioned between vertical and horizontal fins of the aircraft.

According to some embodiments, a system for ejecting an ejectable flightdata recorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation comprises: anejectable flight data recorder disposed within a launching tube, theejectable flight data recorder configured to be ejectable from thelaunching tube, the ejectable flight data recorder comprising anonvolatile memory; an ejection system comprising a stored energy sourceconfigured to cause rapid ejection of the flight data recorder from thelaunching tube by rapidly pressurizing the launching tube when theejection system is triggered; and a control system comprising: one ormore computer processors configured to receive flight data as stored ina conventional flight data recorder and cockpit voice data as stored ina conventional cockpit voice recorder, and to transmit the flight dataand cockpit voice data to the ejectable flight data recorder for storagein the nonvolatile memory of the ejectable flight data recorder; anarming controller for automatically arming and disarming the ejectionsystem based at least in part on data received from an aircraft data buscomprising one or more of position data, altitude data, vertical speeddata, or airspeed data; and an ejection controller for automaticallytriggering the ejection system responsive to detection of one or more ofa plurality of ejection conditions, wherein the ejection controller isconfigured to detect the plurality of ejection conditions by analyzingone or more of the data received from the aircraft data bus and datareceived from one or more collision sensors.

In some embodiments, the control system further comprises a battery forpowering the control system if a loss of main bus power occurs. In someembodiments, the control system is configured to automatically disableitself when the aircraft is on the ground to prevent discharging of thebattery when the aircraft is on the ground. In some embodiments, thearming controller is configured to dynamically disarm the ejectionsystem when the aircraft is currently in at least one of the followingtwo situations: (1) the aircraft is within a first threshold distancefrom a first geographic location, or (2) the aircraft is above a lowerthreshold altitude and below an upper threshold altitude. In someembodiments, the first geographic location comprises one or more of apopulated area, a coastline, or an airport. In some embodiments, thelower threshold altitude is 6,000 feet, and the upper threshold altitudeis a service ceiling of the aircraft. In some embodiments, the armingcontroller is configured to dynamically disarm the ejection system whenthe aircraft is within a first threshold distance from a firstgeographic location, and the arming controller is configured todynamically disarm the ejection system when the aircraft is within asecond threshold distance from a second geographic location, the secondthreshold distance being shorter than the first threshold distance. Insome embodiments, the first geographic location comprises a populatedarea, the second geographic location comprises a coastline, and thearming controller is configured to disregard the first thresholddistance when the position data indicates that the aircraft ispositioned over a body of water. In some embodiments, the armingcontroller is configured to dynamically disarm the ejection systemwithin different threshold distances from at least two of a plurality ofgeographic locations. In some embodiments, the stored energy sourcecomprises at least one of a propellant, a pressurized gas, or acombination of both to cause the rapid pressurizing the launching tubewhen the ejection system is triggered.

For purposes of this summary, certain aspects, advantages, and novelfeatures of the inventions are described herein. It is to be understoodthat not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordancewith any particular embodiment of the inventions. Thus, for example,those skilled in the art will recognize that the inventions may beembodied or carried out in a manner that achieves one advantage or groupof advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving otheradvantages as may be taught or suggested herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawingsof various embodiments, which are intended to illustrate and not tolimit the disclosure. The features of some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, which are believed to be novel, will be more fully disclosedin the following detailed description. The following detaileddescription may best be understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings wherein the same numbers in different drawings represents thesame parts. All drawings are schematic and are not intended to show anydimension to scale. The drawings comprise the following figures inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an ejectable flightdata recorder system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder system.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a position and direction of launching of anejectable flight data recorder module, according to one embodiment.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder system having a support structure for mounting to an aircraftfuselage.

FIGS. 5A-5E illustrate another embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder system having a support structure for mounting to an aircraftfuselage.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module and a launching system.

FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate another embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module and a launching system.

FIGS. 8A-8E illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module.

FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate another embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module.

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate an embodiment of an energy dissipating nosecone of an ejectable flight data recorder module.

FIGS. 10C-10G illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module housing comprising energy dissipating features.

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module comprising an acoustic search system.

FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of an ejectable modulecomprising an acoustic search system being used to track a sinkingaircraft.

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of an armingcontroller, ejection controller, and launching system of an ejectableflight data recorder system.

FIGS. 14A-14C illustrate schematic diagrams of locations where anembodiment of an ejectable flight data recorder system may beautomatically armed or disarmed based on an aircraft's location.

FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic diagram of regions in three-dimensionalspace where an embodiment of an ejectable flight data recorder systemmay be armed or disarmed based on an aircraft's location.

FIG. 16 illustrates an embodiment of a process flow diagram showing anexample of an arming controller, ejection controller, and launchingsystem operating to monitor data and cause an ejectable flight datarecorder module to be launched.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram depicting an embodiment of a computerhardware system configured to run software for implementing one or moreembodiments of the systems described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although several embodiments, examples, and illustrations are disclosedbelow, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art thatthe inventions described herein extend beyond the specifically disclosedembodiments, examples, and illustrations and include other uses of theinventions and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof.Embodiments of the inventions are described with reference to theaccompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. These drawings are considered to be a part of the entiredescription of some embodiments of the inventions. The terminology usedin the description presented herein is not intended to be interpreted inany limited or restrictive manner simply because it is being used inconjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodimentsof the inventions. In addition, embodiments of the inventions cancomprise several novel features and no single feature is solelyresponsible for its desirable attributes or is essential to practicingthe inventions herein described.

The disclosure herein presents various embodiments of systems, methods,and devices for retention of aircraft flight data in the event of anemergency situation and/or for aiding in locating a sunken aircraftafter an aircraft emergency situation. Generally, a flight datarecorder, also known as a “black box,” is used to record datarepresenting the flight state of an aircraft. In the event of anaircraft mishap, a conventional flight data recorder goes down with theplane and emits distress signals for 30 days. It typically stores twohours of cockpit voice dialogue and 25 hours of flight data before thecrash. However, when the plane goes down at sea, the sonar signalemitted from the underwater locator beacon (ULB) attached to the blackbox only transmits several kilometers, therefore requiring a ratherdefinitive search area, which is often difficult in sea crashes. If theblack box becomes covered in seabed sludge (or heavy snow, in the caseof a mountainside crash), distress signals are weakened and hard todetect, making it difficult to locate the crash site in a timely mannerfor rescue. Further, the deeper an aircraft sinks in the water, theharder it is for a signal emitted from the plane or black box to reachthe surface. In some cases, an aircraft fitted with a flight datarecorder may be lost in a deep ocean trench. It can be very difficult tolocate the aircraft and/or determine the cause of the accident in thissituation.

The systems, methods, and devices disclosed herein solve severalproblems associated with a typical black box configuration. For example,some embodiments disclosed herein comprise an ejectable black box orejectable module that stores a copy of some or all of the data stored ina typical black box, but that is ejected from the aircraft in responseto detection of an aircraft emergency. For example, some embodimentsstore duplicated data from a conventional flight data recorder (FDR)and/or cockpit voice recorder (CVR). The ejectable module can beconfigured to be robust, such as to be able to survive a landing onwater or land, and the module can be configured to be buoyant, allowingthe module to float on the water in the event of a water landing. Insome embodiments, the ejectable module comprises communication hardware,such as one or more radios (which may comprise one or more GlobalPositioning System (GPS) devices, electronic locator transmitters,homing beacons, and/or the like), that are configured to communicatewith a satellite, satellite network, aircraft, boat, and/or the like, toaid in finding the ejected flight data recorder module and/or totransmit some or all of the stored flight data wirelessly to anotherdevice. In some embodiments, only a single type of radio is used, suchas a radio configured to transmit GPS data to a satellite, and othertypes of radios that could transmit data to an aircraft, boat, or thelike are not used. Such a configuration can reduce complexity, size,power requirements, and the like. Some embodiments may, however, includeadditional radios and/or types of radios.

As used herein, the terms “radio” and “radio transmitter” are used torefer to any type of electronic device capable of transmittingelectromagnetic radio frequency communications. Some embodimentsdisclosed herein comprise a relatively simple radio or radio transmitterthat is configured to transmit a single type of data, such as GPS datathat a satellite can use to track the location of a floating ejectablemodule. In some embodiments, such a radio may be a distress signalgenerating circuit. Such a radio transmitter may be part of a homingbeacon, electronic locator transmitter (ELT), and/or the like. Someembodiments disclosed herein comprise more complex radios and/or aplurality of radios that can be used to transmit different types ofdata, transmit data to more than one type of remote device, such as asatellite, aircraft, buoy, and/or the like, which may all utilizedifferent frequencies or types of radio protocols, and/or the like. Insome embodiments, the radios of the systems disclosed herein areconfigured only to transmit data. In some embodiments, however, at leastone radio of an ejectable module also comprises a radio receiverconfigured to receive electromagnetic radio frequency communicationsfrom a remote device. In some embodiments, the radio receiver is aseparate device. In some embodiments, the radio receiver is part of aradio transceiver that includes both radio transmission and receptionfunctionality.

With radio transmission functionality, an ejected flight data recordermodule can ideally be relatively easy for search and rescue crews tofind. However, in the event that the ejected flight data recorder moduleis not found quickly, some embodiments disclosed herein comprise asustainable power source that enables the ejected flight data recordermodule to remain powered for extended periods of time, in some casesindefinitely. For example, some embodiments comprise a solar powersystem, a kinetic energy generation system, a saltwater energygeneration system, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the ejectablemodule comprises more than one sustainable power source. Having morethan one power source can provide redundancy and can also be beneficialbecause some portions of the ejectable module may have higher powerrequirements than others. For example, a strobe light on the ejectablemodule may have relatively low power requirements, while a radiotransmitter operating at a relatively high power level may have higherpower requirements. Accordingly, some embodiments may be configured tooperate functions of the system having higher power requirements onlywhen a power source capable of supporting that power requirement isoperating. Further, in some embodiments, the system may be configured tocontrol an amount of time various functions are used, such as to reducetheir average power usage over time, thus extending the service life ofthe unit given a particular level of power generation capability.

As mentioned above, a significant problem with aircraft emergencysituations occurring over a body of water is the ability for search andrescue crews to find the sunken aircraft in the body of water.Particularly in deep oceans, it can be very hard or even impossible tofind a sunken aircraft that is resting on the ocean floor, and too farfrom the surface of the ocean for its radio or sonar distress signals toreach the surface. Various embodiments of systems, methods, and devicesdisclosed herein address this problem by providing an ejectable modulethat incorporates one or more acoustic receivers configured to track asinking trajectory of an aircraft as the aircraft is sinking. Forexample, in some embodiments, the ejectable flight data recorder moduleis configured to sense when the ejected module has landed in the water,and deploy one or more acoustic sensors, such as hydrophones, into thewater below the floating ejectable module. These acoustic receivers canthen be used to detect a sonar or other audible signal from the sinkingaircraft, such as from an underwater locator beacon of the sinkingaircraft and/or from the black box of the sinking aircraft. The floatingejected flight data recorder module can be configured to then analyzethe detected beacon signal from the aircraft and determine an estimatedsinking trajectory of the aircraft. This estimated sinking trajectorycan be stored on the ejected flight data recorder module memory and/ortransmitted wirelessly to a remote system, such as via a radiotransmitter of the ejected flight data recorder module which cantransmit such data to a satellite, aircraft, boat, buoy, and/or thelike.

By knowing a sinking trajectory of the aircraft, the search radius orsearch area can be significantly reduced, thus enabling the sunkenaircraft to be found more quickly (or even enabling it to be found atall in cases where the sunken aircraft would not otherwise have beenable to be found). In some embodiments, the system can be configured touse more than one acoustic receiver, and the system can comprise aseparation device, such as a spring or spring-loaded device, thatseparates the more than one acoustic receivers after being deployed froma main housing of the ejected module. By adding separation space betweenthe acoustic receivers, the sinking trajectory of the aircraft may beable to be more accurately estimated. Further, in some embodiments, theejectable module can comprise one or more devices configured to detectand/or control a rotational orientation of the one or more acousticreceivers (and/or an acoustic receiver array comprising the one or moreacoustic receivers). By controlling and/or detecting the currentrotational orientation of the acoustic receivers, the system may be ableto even more accurately estimate a sinking trajectory of the aircraft.

Another potential problem with an ejectable flight data recorder systemis that there may be safety concerns around the ejectable moduleinadvertently being deployed when an emergency is not occurring. Suchinadvertent deployment or accidental deployment may, for example, happenwhile the aircraft is on the ground being serviced by a mechanic, whilethe aircraft is flying during a normal flight and not experiencing anemergency, and/or the like. One safety concern in such a situation isthat people around the aircraft on the ground may be harmed by themodule being ejected. Another safety concern, when a module isinadvertently deployed while the aircraft is flying, is that the modulecould descend onto a populated area and impact people, animals,buildings, vehicles, and/or the like, leading to damage and/or injury.Another safety concern is that, once an ejected flight data recordermodule has been ejected from the aircraft, a hole may then be present inthe aircraft's body, thus causing potentially a change in aerodynamicsof the aircraft and/or causing increased stresses in portions of theaircraft body.

Systems, methods, and devices disclosed herein address these safetyconcerns by, among other things, reducing a likelihood of the ejectablemodule being ejected when the aircraft is near people or a populatedarea, refraining from ejecting the ejectable module when the aircraft isin a situation or location where finding a crashed aircraft likely willnot be a problem, and/or the like. For example, some embodimentscomprise an arming controller that monitors one or more sensors and/orflight data to selectively and dynamically arm or disarm an ejectionsystem or launching system. For example, in some embodiments, the armingcontroller is configured to monitor a geographic location of theaircraft, such as by using GPS or other geographic location information.The arming controller may be configured to dynamically disarm the systemwhen the aircraft is within a certain distance from a geographiclocation or landmark, such as, for example, a city, an airport, apopulated area, a coastline, and/or the like. Further, in someembodiments, the system is configured to detect whether the aircraft isflying over water or land, such as based on the geographic locationdata. In some embodiments, the system is configured to cause the armingcontroller to remain armed closer to a city, populated area, and/or thelike if the aircraft is presently over water than if the aircraft werepresently over land. This can be desirable, for example, because thelikelihood of an inadvertently ejected ejectable module hitting a personor property may be less when the aircraft is over water than over land.

In some embodiments, the system may also or alternatively be configuredto take into account an altitude of the aircraft and/or a distance ofthe aircraft above the ground in arming and disarming the system. Forexample, the system may be configured to disarm the launching orejection system when the aircraft is above a predetermined altitude, andarm the system when the aircraft is below the predetermined altitude.One benefit of such a configuration is that, when the aircraft is abovea certain altitude, it may be more likely that certain emergencysituations may be resolved before the aircraft crashes. For example, anaircraft may go into a stall, which may be considered an emergencysituation. However, the higher the aircraft is when the stall occurs,the more likely the aircraft may be able to recover from the stallwithout crashing. As a specific example, if the predetermined altitudeis 6000 feet, and a stall occurs at 15,000 feet, the system may detectthis stall as an emergency situation, but keep the launching or ejectionsystem disarmed until the aircraft passes below the 6000 foot level. Atthat point, the system may be configured to arm the launching system,for example, allowing an ejection controller of the system to cause thelaunching system to launch the ejectable module at an appropriate time,which could be immediately or could be at a later time, such as shortlybefore an impact with the ground or water occurs.

In some embodiments, the system may also or alternatively be configuredto have an upper limit on the altitude where the ejection or launchingsystem is disarmed. For example, the system may be configured to arm theejection or launching system when the aircraft goes above apredetermined altitude, such as an altitude equal to or near theaircraft's service ceiling. This may be desirable in some cases, forexample, because it may be more likely that an emergency event occurswhen an aircraft exceeds its designed service ceiling than if theaircraft were within its operating limits. This does not necessarilymean, however, that the ejectable flight data recorder module willalways be ejected upon the aircraft exceeding its service ceiling. Forexample, if a potentially recoverable emergency event occurs above theservice ceiling, the system may still be configured to disarm theejection or launching system when the aircraft falls back below theservice ceiling, but then re-arm the ejection or launching system uponpassing the lower altitude threshold.

As mentioned above, some emergency events may be recoverable, and maynot result in a crash of the aircraft. Some emergency events may notnecessarily be recoverable, but may involve the aircraft descending atleast partially intact for an extended period of time until the aircraftimpacts the ground or water. Other emergency events may comprise a quickor almost immediate loss of the aircraft in the air, such as, as aresult of an explosion. Various embodiments of systems, methods, anddevices disclosed herein comprise an ejection controller configured totake into account these various types of emergency situations toincrease a likelihood that the ejectable module is launched or ejectedin response to an emergency event, but that the ejectable module canalso be launched relatively close to a point of impact of the aircraftwith the ground or water, when possible. Such functionality can bedesirable, such as to enable the acoustic receivers of the ejectablemodule to more effectively track a sinking trajectory of the aircraft,to reduce a landing impact load on the ejectable module, and/or thelike.

In some embodiments, an ejection controller of an ejectable flight datarecorder system as disclosed herein can be configured to monitor one ormore sensors and/or aircraft flight data to determine when an emergencyevent is occurring, a type of emergency event that is occurring, anestimated time to impact with the ground, and/or the like. For example,the system may be configured to analyze flight data and/or data fromsensors to determine that a descent likely to result in a ground impactis occurring, a collision with another aircraft or object has occurred,an explosion has occurred, and/or the like. The ejection controller insome embodiments can be configured to cooperate with the armingcontroller such that, when at least some types of emergency conditionsare detected, the ejection controller will still not cause ejection orlaunching of the ejectable module if the arming controller has disarmedthe launching system. For example, if the ejection controller determinesthat a collision has occurred or that a descent likely to result in aground impact is occurring, the ejection controller may be configured toobey the current arming state set by the arming controller. This may bedesirable, because, if the arming controller has disarmed the system,that may be indicative of a situation where recovery from the emergencysituation is possible, or where ejection of the ejectable module may belikely to cause harm to people or property, such as because the aircraftis in close proximity to people or property.

In some embodiments, however, the ejection controller can be configuredto detect at least one type of emergency condition that can override thearming controller, and cause ejection of the ejectable module regardlessof a current arming state set by the arming controller. This may bedesirable, for example, because some situations, such as an explosion,may result in an almost immediate loss of the aircraft. In such asituation, if the ejectable module is not relatively quickly ejected,the risk that the ejectable module will also be lost as a result of theexplosion is higher. Also, if the aircraft is exploding, there willalready be debris falling to the ground or water, and adding arelatively small ejectable module to that falling debris may introduceonly a negligible increase in risk of harm to people or property below.Accordingly, it may be desirable in such a situation to go ahead andeject the ejectable module even if the arming controller has disarmedthe system.

In some embodiments, systems, methods, and devices disclosed herein maycomprise additional safety features that can help to reduce a risk ofharm to people or property on the ground or in the water (or even otherflights in the air) after an ejectable flight data recorder module hasbeen ejected. For example, some embodiments of the ejectable flight datarecorder modules disclosed herein comprise audible and/or visual warningsystems that can help to alert people on the ground to a descendingejected module. For example, some embodiments comprise one or morelasers or other types of lights that project light from a descendingejected flight data recorder module that may be visible to people on theground or in the air. As another example, some embodiments comprise oneor more devices that generate sound to warn people on the ground. Forexample, some embodiments may comprise one or more holes in a skin ofthe housing of the ejectable module that act as a whistle when airpasses therethrough.

Although various embodiments described herein refer to an ejectableflight data recorder module, an ejectable module, an ejectable unit, anejectable system, and/or the like, this is not necessarily intended tomean that the main flight data recorders or black boxes of an aircraftare ejectable from the aircraft. Although such a configuration isconceivable, it can be more desirable to have an ejectable module thatis separate from the one or more standard black boxes of the aircraft.This can have multiple benefits. For example, in case the ejectablemodule is lost for whatever reason, if the sunken aircraft itself isfound, the original black box or black boxes may still be with theaircraft and be recoverable. As another example, the ejectable modulemay be configured to be relatively small and lightweight, andre-creating all of the functionality of a standard black box in such anejectable module may make the ejectable module larger and/or heavierthan desirable. In some embodiments, an ejectable module comprises anonvolatile memory that is configured to store a copy of some or all ofthe data being recorded in a normal black box or flight data recorder,but may not comprise some other features of such a normal black box(and/or may incorporate some of the other features of a normal black boxinto the overall design of an ejectable module that comprises variousother features, such as multiple sustainable power sources, an acousticsearch system, descent warning systems, and/or the like).

Various specific embodiments will be described below with reference tothe accompanying figures. Some of the embodiments include one or morefeatures and/or benefits, such as, for example, acoustically tracking asinking aircraft, absorbing and/or dissipating energy or impact uponlanding, one or more sustainable power sources, visual and/or audiowarning systems during descent, arming or disarming of the system basedon a geographic location and/or altitude, causing ejection of anejectable module upon occurrence of one or more ejection conditions,preventing ejection of an ejectable module in certain situations evenupon occurrence of an ejection condition, and/or the like. Forsimplicity in describing these embodiments, some embodiments aredescribed with reference to and/or the drawings and description focus ononly one of these features or advantages, or a subset of these featuresor advantages. The various features of the individual embodimentsdisclosed herein may be combined, however, with features of otherembodiments disclosed herein, and such resulting embodiments areconsidered part of the disclosure. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 9,440,749,entitled EMERGENCY MECHANICAL AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORAIRCRAFT, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety, discloses various other embodiments of ejectable flight datarecorder systems. The various features of the individual embodimentsdisclosed herein may be combined with any of the embodiments disclosedin the '749 patent, and the various features disclosed in the '749patent may be combined with any of the embodiments disclosed herein, andsuch resulting embodiments are considered part of the presentdisclosure. Further, the portion of the system that is intended to beejected or launched from the aircraft may be referred to herein as anejectable module, ejectable system, or the like.

Ejectable Flight Data Recorder Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates one example embodiment of a schematic diagram of anejectable flight data recorder system 100. The ejectable flight datarecorder system 100 is installed in an aircraft 102. The ejectableflight data recorder system 100 comprises an ejectable system or module104, a launching system or launching tube 106, a valve 108, a storedenergy source 110, a control system 112, a plurality of sensors 114,such as collision sensors, one or more sensors 116 integrated into thecontrol system 112, such as shock sensors, a flight data acquisitionunit (FDAU), and an aircraft data bus 120. In this embodiment, theejectable module 104 is configured to be ejected from the launching tube106 upon occurrence of one or more ejection conditions, as furtherdescribed below with reference to an ejection controller and armingcontroller. The ejectable module 104 in this embodiment is configured tobe ejected by a stored energy source 110, such as a compressed gas,which can be selectively delivered to the launching tube 106 via a valve108. The control system 112 can be configured to operate the valve 108to cause a rapid ejection of the ejectable module 104 on demand. In someembodiments, the control system 112 may be referred to as an emergencydetection system. In some embodiments, the control system 112 comprisesa battery for powering the control system in the event of a loss of mainbus power. In some embodiments, the control system 112 is configured toautomatically disable itself, or power itself down, upon landing of theaircraft, to prevent discharge of the battery when the aircraft is notin flight.

Although this embodiment illustrates a launching or ejection system thatcomprises a compressed gas that launches the ejectable module 104 fromthe launching tube 106, various other methods or techniques for ejectingthe ejectable module 104 may be utilized with the concepts disclosedherein. For example, a pyrotechnic stored energy source may be used, oneor more mechanical springs may be used, explosive bolts may be used,and/or the like.

In this embodiment, the control system 112 is desirably configured tomonitor a plurality of sensors and/or aircraft data that can be obtainedby the control system 112 by communicating with the various sensors 114,116, the aircraft data bus 120, and/or the flight data acquisition unit118. The control system 112 may be configured to monitor the pluralityof sensors and/or aircraft data through a sensor interface that may be asingle interface incorporated into the control system 112, may bedivided among any number of components of the control system 112, suchas the arming controller 220, ejection controller 222, data converter223, and/or the like. The sensor interface 112 may, for example,comprise one or more electrical connections at or electrically coupledto the control system 112 that functionally connect the control system112 to the flight data acquisition unit 118, aircraft data bus 120,sensors 114, 116, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the sensorinterface further comprises one or more electronic components, such asintegrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, and/or the like, that enablethe control system 112 to receive and/or interpret sensor data. In someembodiments, the sensor interface 112 may comprise specific interfacesfor different data sources, such as an aircraft data bus interface toreceive data from the aircraft data bus 120, a flight data acquisitionunit interface to receive data from the flight data acquisition unit118, a separate sensor interface to receive data from the sensors 114,and/or the like. Any number or combination of sensors 114, 116 may beused. In this embodiment, the sensors 114 are distributed throughout theaircraft and electronically connected to the control system 112. Thesensor 116 is integrated into the control system 112. In thisembodiment, each of the remote sensors 114 comprises a collision sensor,such as a sensor configured to detect a collision of the aircraft 102with another object. Sensor 116 in this embodiment comprises a shocksensor, such as a sensor that can detect a shock load, such as mightoccur as a result of an explosion. In some embodiments, the system isconfigured to detect that an explosion has occurred when a shock loadabove a threshold level is detected. Various other sensors may beutilized, either directly attached to the control system 112, and/or aspart of the existing aircraft's sensors, and passed to the controlsystem 112 through the aircraft data bus 120 and/or the control system112's connection to the flight data acquisition unit 118. For example,some of the parameters that may be monitored by the control system 112,either directly or via the aircraft data bus 120 and/or connection tothe flight data acquisition unit 118, are power, fuel, engine speed,thrust, acceleration, vertical speed, airspeed, altitude, position,intended flight path, orientation, cockpit control inputs, cockpit voicedata, radio information received from remote sources, collisionindicators, shock indicators, and/or the like. The parameters monitoredby the control system 112 may all be considered to be sensor data,regardless of whether the control system 112 receives that sensor datadirectly from a sensor, such as sensors 114 or 116, or indirectly fromthe aircraft data bus 120 or flight data acquisition unit 118.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 may be utilized with any of theembodiments of specific features or components of an ejectable flightdata recorder system described below with reference to the remainder ofthe drawings.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of an ejectableflight data recorder system 200. The ejectable flight data recordersystem 200 may be similar to the system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Theembodiment shown in FIG. 2, however, illustrates additional details ofthe control, launching, and ejectable systems. The ejectable flight datarecorder system 200 comprises a control system 112 configured to controla launching system 254. The control system 112 is configured to receivedata from one or more sources, and to analyze that data in order to armor disarm the launching system 254 and/or to cause the launching system254 to eject the ejectable system or module 104 from the launching bay106. In this embodiment, the control system 112 receives data from aplurality of sensors 114, a flight data acquisition unit 118, and anaircraft data bus 120. The control system 112 may further receive datafrom one or more sensors 116 that are built into the control system 112,instead of being remote from the control system 112.

The control system 112 further comprises an arming controller 220 and anejection controller 222. The arming controller 220 can be configured toanalyze the data received from the sensors 114, sensors 116, flight dataacquisition unit 118, and/or aircraft data bus 120 to determine whetherthe launching system 254 should presently be armed or disarmed. Thearming controller 220 can be configured to then cause the launchingsystem 254 to be dynamically armed or disarmed based on changing datareceived by the control system 112. For example, the arming controller220 may be configured to dynamically and automatically cause thelaunching system 254 to be disarmed when the aircraft is within acertain distance from a city, populated area, airport, coastline, and/orthe like. The arming controller 220 may further be configured to causethe launching system 254 to be automatically and dynamically disarmedwhen the aircraft is above a predetermined altitude level and/or below asecond predetermined altitude level.

In some embodiments, arming or disarming the launching system 254 isdone electronically (e.g., in software), mechanically, or using acombination of the two. For example, disarming the launching system 254may comprise instructing the launching controller 108 of the launchingsystem 254 to not respond to one or more ejection commands received fromthe control system 112. This is an example of electronically disarmingthe system. In some embodiments, the launching system 254 comprises amechanical relief valve 150. The relief valve 150 may be positionedoperatively between the stored energy source 110 and the launching bay106. In some embodiments, disarming the system may comprise causing therelief valve 150 to open. When the relief valve 150 is open, if thestored energy source 110 is activated, such as by releasing apressurized gas, activating a propellant, and/or the like, the pressurereleased from the stored energy source 110 will be redirected out of thesystem through the relief valve 150, instead of being directed into thelaunching bay 106 to cause ejection of the ejectable module or ejectablesystem 104. This is an example of mechanically disarming the system.Desirably, the systems disclosed herein can comprise a combination ofelectronic and manual disarming. For example, in a case where theaircraft is on the ground, it may be desirable to cause the relief valve150 to open, thus not allowing ejection of the ejectable module orejectable system 104 in any situation. In a case where the aircraft isin flight, however, it may be desirable to electronically disarm thesystem in certain situations, which may enable certain ejection commandsfrom the control system 112 to be obeyed and others disobeyed. In someembodiments, the relief valve 150 may still be used in such situations,but the launching controller 108 may be configured to close the reliefvalve 150 in response to receipt of an ejection command from the controlsystem 112 that should override the current disarmed state of thelaunching system 254. In some embodiments, the system is configured toautomatically open the relief valve 150 when the aircraft is on theground, and to automatically close the relief valve 150 when theaircraft is airborne. In some embodiments, the system is configured todetermine whether the aircraft is on the ground or airborne bymonitoring a weight on wheels signal.

By dynamically and automatically arming and disarming the launchingsystem 254, the arming controller 220 can beneficially make theejectable flight data recorder system 200 more robust and safer to use.For example, by avoiding launching the ejectable module 104 when theaircraft is within a certain distance from a city or other populatedarea, a risk that someone on the ground is hit by the ejected system 104can be reduced. Further, if the aircraft is within the predetermineddistance from a populated area, it is less likely that an aircraftwreckage would be hard to find, and thus the value in having theejectable module 104 ejected may be reduced. Further, as mentionedabove, it may be beneficial to have the launching system 254 disarmedwhen the aircraft is above a predetermined altitude level, to avoidejection of the ejectable module 104 in a situation where the aircraftmay still recover. In such a case, ejecting the ejectable module 104could potentially cause more harm than good, such as by changing theaerodynamics of the aircraft when a hole is created through thefuselage. Further, by delaying ejection of the ejectable module 104until the aircraft is closer to the ground or water, the ejectablemodule 104 may be able to land relatively closely to a point of impactof the aircraft.

The ejection controller 222 of the control system 112 can also beconfigured to monitor various information or data streams coming in fromthe various sensors 114, 116, flight data acquisition unit 118, and/oraircraft data bus 120. The ejection controller 222 can be configured toanalyze this information in real time to dynamically detect an emergencycondition or a condition where it may be desirable to cause thelaunching system 254 to eject the ejectable module 104. In someembodiments, the ejection controller 222 may be configured toimmediately cause the launching system 254 to eject the ejectable module104 in response to the ejection controller 222 detecting an emergencycondition. In some embodiments, the ejection controller 222 can beconfigured to monitor one or more ongoing emergency conditions, andeventually cause the launching system 254 to launch the ejectable module104 if the emergency condition is sustained for a predetermined amountof time and/or if a crash landing is imminent.

In some embodiments, the ejection controller 222 may be configured toanalyze data for detection of ejection conditions having differentauthority levels. In some embodiments, the system is configured to haveejection conditions comprising at least two authority levels, includinga lower level of authority and a higher level of authority. Ejectionconditions having a lower level of authority may be configured to obeyan arming status of the launching system 254, such as was dynamicallyset by the arming controller 220 based on the aircraft's presentgeographic location and/or altitude. For example, if an ejectioncondition having a lower level of authority is detected by the ejectioncontroller 222, that ejection condition may not cause deployment of theejectable module 104 unless the arming controller 220 has armed thelaunching system 254. Ejection conditions having a higher level ofauthority, however, may be configured to not obey an arming status ofthe launching system 254. For example, if an ejection condition having ahigher level of authority is detected by the ejection controller 222,that ejection condition may cause deployment of the ejectable module 104regardless of the arming state set by the arming controller 220. Thismay be a beneficial feature, particularly in cases where destruction ofthe aircraft is imminent or presently occurring. For example, the armingcontroller 220 may be configured to disarm the launching system 254 whenthe aircraft is flying at a cruising altitude. This can be beneficial,because many emergency situations that occur at cruising altitude caneither be resolved before the aircraft crashes or will at least resultin the aircraft still descending for an extended period of time beforethe aircraft crash lands. If the launching system 254 were armed atcruising altitude, then there may be a higher likelihood that someejection conditions detected by the ejection controller 222 could resultin a deployment of the ejectable module 104 at the cruising altitude,which could have adverse effects on the aerodynamics of the aircraft, orwhich could cause of the ejectable module 104 to land at an arearelatively far away from the eventual landing area of the aircraft. Inthe case of certain ejection conditions, such as, for example, anexplosion that may destroy the aircraft in a matter of milliseconds, itmay be desirable for the ejection controller 222 to override thedisarmed status of the launching system 254, and thus cause an immediateor relatively quick deployment of the ejectable module 104.

In some embodiments, the control system 112 may comprise a dataconverter 223 that is configured to analyze various data received fromthe flight data acquisition unit 118, aircraft data bus 120, sensors114, and/or sensors 116 and convert this data into data suitable forstorage in the data storage 232 of the ejectable system or ejectablemodule 104. For example, in some embodiments, it may not be desirable orfeasible for the data storage 232 of the ejectable system 104 to storeevery bit of information generated by the flight data acquisition unit118, aircraft data bus 120, sensors 114, and/or sensors 116. Storing allof this data may take too much memory space, may take too much time,and/or the like. Rather, it can be desirable to extract only the mostimportant data and convert that data into a suitable format fortransmission to the ejectable system 104 for storage in the data storage232. In some embodiments, the data converter 223 is configured to use anapplication programming interface (API) that controls conversion of suchdata into a format suitable for storage by the ejectable system 104.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the launching system 254 comprises astored energy source 110, a launching controller 108, and the launchingbay 106 having the ejectable module 104 positioned therein or coupledthereto. The stored energy source 110 may comprise, for example, acompressed gas, a pyrotechnic energy source, an electromagnetic energysource, and/or the like. The launching controller 108 may be configuredto cause the stored energy source 110 to release its stored energy tothe launching bay 106, thus causing the ejectable module 104 to bedeployed from the launching bay 106. In some embodiments, the launchingcontroller 108 may comprise a valve, an electronic igniter, a relay,and/or the like. The launching bay 106 may take various forms. Forexample, in some embodiments, the launching bay 106 may comprise atubular structure, having the ejectable module 104 positioned therein.The tubular structure may act like a barrel of a gun, enabling theejectable module 104 to be launched therefrom responsive to thelaunching controller 108 causing the stored energy source 110 to releaseits stored energy to the launching bay 106.

FIG. 2 further illustrates various components of one embodiment of anejectable module 104. Such an ejectable system may alternatively bereferred to herein as an ejectable module, an ejectable flight datarecorder module, and/or the like. This embodiment of an ejectable module104 comprises a radio 224, and antenna 226, a battery 228, a pluralityof sustainable power sources 230, an electronic data storage 232, aposition sensor 234, a controller 236, a descent control system 238, animpact reduction system 240, an acoustic tracking system 242, a beacon244, a water sensor 246, a visual warning system 248, and an audiblewarning system 250. Various other embodiments of ejectable systems maycomprise more or fewer components, may comprise more than one of any ofthese components, and some components may be combined.

The radio 224 may be configured to, for example, transmit data to and/orreceive data from a satellite, other aircraft, boat, buoy, and/or thelike. More than one radio may be included in some embodiments, such asdifferent radios for different purposes. For example, one radio 224 maybe configured to communicate with a satellite system at a particularfrequency, using a particular protocol, using a particular power level,and/or the like. Another radio may be configured to communicate with abuoy system using a particular frequency, protocol, power level, and/orthe like. The antenna 226 may be electrically coupled to the radio 224to enable the radio 224 to transmit and/or receive data. In someembodiments, more than one antenna 226 is included. For example,different antennas 226 may be tuned for different frequencies. Asanother example, different antennas 226 may be oriented differently, toincrease a likelihood that at least one of the antennas 226 is alignedat any particular time in a fashion that allows efficient communicationsbetween the ejectable module 104 and a remote system. For example,because the ejectable module 104 may be floating on the ocean, and theocean may be turbulent, the antennas 226 may sometimes be in constantmotion. By having multiple antennas 226 in multiple orientations, suchas, for example, two antennas oriented substantially perpendicular toone another, a likelihood is increased that at least one of the antennaswill have a desirable alignment or orientation with a remote system'santenna at any particular time.

The battery 228 may be configured to store electrical power for poweringthe various modules or components of the ejectable module 104. In someembodiments, the battery 228 is sized to have enough power to power thevarious components of the ejectable module 104 for a predeterminedperiod of time. For example, the battery 228 may be configured to storeenough power to power the ejectable module 104 for 30 days afterejection from the aircraft. Particularly in situations where an aircraftis lost in a remote location, it can be desirable to allow the ejectablemodule 104 to operate for an extended period of time. However, extendingthe designed operation time of the ejectable module 104 may also requireadditional battery capacity, unless other power management techniquesare used, such as by reducing a duration or frequency of radiotransmissions, and/or the like.

Additional battery capacity may mean the ejectable module 104 comprisesadditional weight. It can be desirable, however, to reduce the sizeand/or weight of the ejectable module 104. By reducing the size and/orweight of the ejectable module 104, the amount of mass descending to theground after ejection is reduced, and thus the various components of theejectable module 104 that control the descent of the ejectable systemand/or that reduce an impact of the ejectable system on the ground orwater can also be reduced in size and/or weight. Further, reductions insize and/or weight of the ejectable module 104 can reduce the sizeand/or power requirements of the launching system 254. Accordingly, itcan be desirable to reduce a size of the battery 228.

Some embodiments disclosed herein are able to reduce the size of thebattery 228, while sustaining extended and/or indefinite powering of theejectable module 104, by utilizing one or more sustainable power sources230. For example, some embodiments of the ejectable module 104 compriseone or more sustainable or renewable power sources such as solar power,kinetic energy generation, saltwater power generation, and/or the like.For example, the ejectable module 104 may comprise one or more solarpanels positioned within or about a housing of the ejectable module 104in a position to gather energy from sunlight when the ejectable moduleor ejectable module 104 is floating on the surface of the water. In someembodiments, the ejectable module 104 comprises various components thatare laid out within a cavity of a housing in a fashion that positions acenter of gravity of the ejectable module 104 such that a predeterminedside or surface of the ejectable module 104 is pointing upward when theejectable module 104 is floating on the water. This may be desirable,for example, to enable positioning of solar panels to gather sunlight,to enable a particular orientation of the antennas 226, and/or the like.

In an embodiment that comprises a sustainable power source 230comprising a kinetic energy generation system, the sustainable powersource 230 may comprise, for example, a weight, rotor, pendulum, and/orthe like configured to sway, move back and forth, rotate, and/or thelike in response to movement of the ejectable module 104, such asmovement in response to waves on the surface of an ocean. The movementsof the weight, rotor, pendulum, and/or the like may be converted intoenergy by a generator and stored in the battery 228. In some cases, thismay be similar to a kinetic energy generator used in wristwatches torecharge a battery in a wristwatch.

In an embodiment that comprises a sustainable power source 230comprising a saltwater power generation system, the saltwater powergeneration system may comprise, for example, an iconic power,electrochemical power, osmotic power, salinity gradient power, or blueenergy generator. Such a system can be configured to generate energythrough reverse electrodialysis, pressure retarded osmosis, and/or thelike.

In addition to such power sources 230 being sustainable, meaning theycan recharge the battery 228 for an extended period of time, potentiallyindefinitely, after ejection from the launching system 254, it can bedesirable to have more than one sustainable power source 230 to provideredundancy. For example, in a system that includes a solar powergeneration system, little or no solar power would be able to begenerated at night, when there is very little sunlight. If a second typeof sustainable power source 230 is available, however, which cangenerate power during the night, the system can be configured to usethat power source during the night and the solar generating power sourceduring the day. Further, due to the harsh operating environment of theejectable module 104 after ejection, having redundant sustainable powersources 230 may be desirable in the event that one or more of thesustainable power sources 230 is damaged and fails to generate power, orfails to generate power as efficiently as expected. In some embodiments,multiple sustainable power sources 230 can be configured to generatepower simultaneously, increasing a total level of power generation atany particular time.

In some embodiments, the controller 236 can be configured to monitor apower level of the battery 228, and/or a current power output level ofone or more sustainable power sources 230, and dynamically disablecertain systems or components of the ejectable module 104 to reduce acurrent power requirement and/or extend a life of the battery 228. Forexample, in some embodiments, the system may be configured to transmitsome of the flight data stored in the data storage 232 to a remotesystem, such as a satellite, buoy, aircraft, boat, and/or the like. Inan instance where the power level of the battery 228 is below a certainlevel, and/or the sustainable power sources 230 are outputting power ata rate below a certain level, the system may be configured to stop ordisable, at least temporarily, transmission of the stored flight data,but continue to operate systems that can help searchers to locate theejectable module 104, such as the beacon 244. In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to not necessarily fully disable certain systems orsubsystems, but to at least reduce a frequency of transmissions or thelike, resulting in a reduction in power requirements.

In some embodiments, the ejectable module 104 may have different powerrequirements depending on a current stage of its operation. For example,as the ejectable module 104 is descending toward the ground or water,its power requirements may be relatively low. In an initial stage afterlanding, power requirements may be higher, for example, in order toimplement some initialization procedures, such as, for example,deploying one or more antennas, deploying an acoustic tracking system,and/or the like. After such initial procedures have occurred, however,power requirements may drop, as the ejectable system may not need toperform those initial procedures anymore. Further, some systems, such asthe acoustic tracking system 242 may be configured to only be used aslong as needed. For example, the acoustic tracking system 242 can beconfigured to track a sinking trajectory of the aircraft in the water.Once the aircraft has sunk far enough that the acoustic tracking system242 can no longer detect the aircraft, however, the acoustic trackingsystem 242 may no longer be needed. Accordingly, at such time, theejectable module 104 may be configured to deactivate the acoustictracking system 242, thus reducing power requirements of the ejectablemodule 104. Such power management techniques may enable the ejectablemodule 104 to last longer with a smaller battery 228 and/or sustainablepower sources 230 having lower power output levels. This can desirablylead to, among other things, weight reduction.

In some embodiments, the stage that requires maximum power is a stagebeginning after landing in the water and ending after the acoustictracking system 242 has been deactivated. Since this stage can beexpected to be a relatively short portion of the ejected system's activelifespan, which may comprise several days or even months until thesystem is located, the system design may take this into account. Forexample, to reduce the weight of the ejectable module 104, the battery228 may be sized to have enough power to sustain that first stage ofhigher power usage without any recharging from the sustainable powersources 230. After that higher power stage has ended, however, thesustainable power sources 230 may be sized to be able to power theejectable module 104 indefinitely until the ejectable module 104 hasbeen located by searchers. Such a design can enable the sustainablepower sources 230 to be smaller, less expensive, and lighter weight thanif the sustainable power sources 230 were designed to allow theejectable module 104 to operate indefinitely even in its highest powerusage stages.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the electronic data storage 232 of theejectable module 104 may comprise, for example, a nonvolatile memory orany other type of electronic memory storage. The electronic data storage232 may be configured to store, for example, flight data from theaircraft prior to the ejectable module 104 being deployed from thelaunching system 254, position data related to a position of theejectable module 104 after being deployed from the launching system 254,acoustic tracking data generated by the acoustic tracking system 242when the ejectable module 104 has landed in the water and is tracking asinking trajectory of the aircraft, and/or the like. The ejectablemodule 104 may be configured to transmit at least some of the datastored in the data storage 232 to an external system via the radio 224and antenna 226. The ejectable module 104 may also be configured toenable retrieval of data in the electronic data storage 232 via awireless or wired connection to the ejectable module 104 after theejectable module 104 has been retrieved or recovered.

In some embodiments, it can be desirable for the data storage 232 tocomprise nonvolatile memory, meaning stored data is not lost if power tothe data storage 232 is lost. This can be desirable, for example,because there may be instances when the battery 228 runs out of power,the sustainable power sources 230 stop generating power and/or are notgenerating sufficient power, and/or the like. By having nonvolatilememory, the storage of the data can be more robust in such situations.In some embodiments, the data storage 232 may further comprise volatilememory, such as RAM, which may be desirable because it may be fasterthan a nonvolatile memory. This could be particularly desirable inrapidly transferring flight data from the aircraft to the ejectablemodule 104 prior to deploying the ejectable module 104. For example, ina case where an emergency condition has been detected, and the controlsystem 112 is going to rapidly cause the launching system 254 to deploythe ejectable module 104, it may be desirable to rapidly transmit thelatest flight data from, for example, the flight data acquisition unit118, aircraft data bus 120, sensors 114, and/or sensors 116, to theejectable module 104 for storage in the data storage 232. By utilizingRAM as a buffer, the data source 232 may be able to store more dataquickly just before deployment. The system can be configured to thentransfer the data from the volatile memory to the nonvolatile memory forlonger-term storage.

The position sensor 234 of the ejectable module 104 may comprise, forexample, one or more sensors configured to detect a present position ofthe ejectable module 104. The position sensors 234 may comprise, forexample, a global positioning system or GPS sensor, a GLONASS sensor(Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema), an inertia basedsensor, an altimeter, a barometer, a compass, and/or the like. Theposition sensor or sensors 234 can be used, for example, to enable theejectable module 104 to detect its present location and store a historyof its location in the electronic data storage 232. In some embodiments,the system is configured to store at least thirty minutes of locationhistory data. In some embodiments, the system is configured to storemore or less location history data, such as at least 10, 20, 60, 120, ormore minutes of location history data. In some embodiments, the systemis configured to store location history data from a time of landing onthe water to a time of recovery. By having a history of the ejectablemodule 104's location, this could help a search crew in tracking a pathof the sinking aircraft, since the aircraft's sinking path may be atleast partially related to the path the ejectable module 104 followswhen floating on the surface of the water. However, since surfacecurrents can move in different directions than currents below thesurface, it may be desirable to also include an acoustic tracking system242, which can enable the ejectable module 104 to directly track andstore the sinking trajectory of the aircraft. In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to transmit at least some of the detected positionsof the ejectable module 104 to an external system via, for example, theradio 224 and antenna 226.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the controller 236 may comprise, for example,one or more computer processors configured to control and/or manage theoperation of the various components of the ejectable module 104. Forexample, the controller 236 may be programmed to control transmissiontiming and frequencies of the radio 224, monitor power levels of thebattery 228 and power output or generation levels of the sustainablepower sources 230, control deployment of the acoustic tracking system242, and/or the like.

The descent control system 238 can be configured to control a descent ofthe ejectable module 104 after the ejectable module 104 has beendeployed or ejected from the launching bay 106 of the launching system254. For example, the descent control system 238 may comprise one ormore parachutes configured to be deployed after ejection from thelaunching system 254. In some embodiments, the one or more parachutesare configured to be automatically separated from the ejectable module104 after the ejectable module 104 has made contact with the ground orwater, such as by activating a solenoid or the like. The controller 236may be configured to automatically cause such separation in response to,for example, the water sensor 246 detecting a water landing, a shocksensor detecting an impact with the ground, an altimeter detecting thatthe ejectable module 104 has discontinued its descent, and/or the like.In some embodiments, the parachute is coupled to the housing using awater-soluble glue that is configured to dissolve after landing in thewater.

The impact reduction system 240 of the ejectable module 104 may beconfigured to reduce an impact load on the ejectable module 104resulting from the ejectable module 104 landing on the ground or waterafter being deployed from the aircraft. In some embodiments, the impactreduction system 240 may comprise an energy dissipating nosecone of thehousing that is shaped to deflect at least a portion of the impact load.In some embodiments, the energy dissipating nosecone may comprise one ormore compressible areas or crush zones or crumple zones that areconfigured to absorb at least a portion of an impact load throughplastic deformation of the nosecone. Further details of such anembodiment are described below with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B.

The acoustic tracking system 242 of the ejectable module 104 may beconfigured to track a sinking trajectory of the aircraft after theaircraft crash-landed in a body of water. In some embodiments, theacoustic tracking system 242 may comprise one or more hydrophones orother acoustic or sonar sensors that are configured to track a soundtransmitted by the sinking aircraft, such as a sound generated by anunderwater locator beacon. In some embodiments, the acoustic trackingsystem 242 may comprise one or more active sonar transducers configuredto actively ping or search for the aircraft as it is sinking. Such anembodiment may be desirable, such as in an instance where the underwaterlocator beacon of the aircraft has been damaged and is not generating asound.

In some embodiments, such as is described in more detail below, theacoustic tracking system 242 may comprise one or more separation membersconfigured to separate two or more hydrophones or other acoustic sensorsfrom one another after being deployed from the floating ejectable module104. By separating the sensors, the system may be able to moreaccurately track a sinking trajectory of the aircraft. Further, in someembodiments, the acoustic tracking system 242 may be configured todetect a present orientation of the acoustic sensors, which may alsoenable the system to more accurately track a sinking trajectory of theaircraft. For example, the acoustic tracking system 242 may comprise,for example, one or more compasses coupled to the separation memberand/or acoustic sensors, a rotation orientation sensor coupled to thesupport members and/or acoustic sensors, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the acoustic tracking system 242 comprises arotator assembly configured to actively rotate the acoustic sensors inthe water. Such a feature may be desirable, for example, to enableredirecting or rotating the sensor array in an orientation that allowsmore accurate or efficient tracking of the sinking aircraft. Forexample, if a sensor array comprises two or three acoustic sensorsaligned in a co-linear fashion, the most accurate tracking of thesinking aircraft may occur when a line passing through the two or threesensors is generally perpendicular to a line between the sensor arrayand the sinking aircraft. The least accurate tracking of the sinkingaircraft may occur when the line passing through the two or threesensors is generally parallel with the line between the sensor array andthe sinking aircraft. In some embodiments, the rotator assembly may becoupled to the housing of the floating ejectable module 104, and beconfigured to cause rotation of cables, tethers, or other structure thatare coupling the acoustic sensors to the floating ejectable module 104.In some embodiments, the individual acoustic sensors may comprise or becoupled to a compressed gas source being directable through a nozzle, apropeller, and/or the like that enables the acoustic sensors to bedirectly repositioned or rotated.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the beacon 244 may comprise, for example, alocator beacon that can help a search crew to locate the ejectablemodule 104 after the ejectable module 104 has landed on the ground orwater. This may comprise, for example, an electronic locator transmitter(ELT), homing beacon, and/or the like. The ejectable system 104 mayfurther comprise an underwater locator beacon (ULB), for example, foruse if the ejectable module sinks in the water. The water sensor 246 canbe configured to detect the presence of water, such as when theejectable module 104 lands in the water. For example, the water sensor246 may comprise two electrical contacts that complete a circuit whenthe ejectable module 104 lands in the water. Detecting a water landingcan be desirable to, for example, enable the controller 236 to causeautomatic separation of a parachute, deployment of the acoustic trackingsystem 242, deployment of a movable antenna 226, and/or the like.

The ejectable module 104 further comprises visual and audible warningsystems 248, 250 that can be configured to help warn people on theground or in the water that the ejectable module 104 is descending. Thiscan allow people that might be in the descent path of the ejectablemodule 104 to get out of the way. For example, the visual warning system248 may comprise one or more lasers or other light sources that areconfigured to project light from the ejectable module 104 that could bevisible to a person on the ground or in the air. As another example, theaudible warning system 250 may comprise a whistle configured to generatea sound due to air passing therethrough as the ejectable module 104descends. For example, the whistle may comprise two or more holes in thehousing of the ejectable module 104 with a lumen extending within thehousing and fluidly connected to the openings. In some embodiments, theaudible warning system 250 may comprise a speaker and/or sirenconfigured to generate a sound, such as a high-pitched sound.

Further details of various components of ejectable systems 104 are givenbelow with reference to various drawings included herewith.

Ejection Position and Direction

An ejectable flight data recorder system as disclosed herein may bepositioned at various locations on or about or within an aircraft. Onesuch location is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. FIG. 3A is a side view of anaircraft 102 above the ground 306, with the launching system 106 of anejectable flight data recorder system being positioned behind a pressuredome 308 of the aircraft, but in front of a tail cone 310 of theaircraft. Such a position can be desirable, because this section of theaircraft is unpressurized. Accordingly, if an inadvertent deploymentwere to occur, the creation of a hole in the aircraft for launching ofthe ejectable module 104 would desirably not affect a pressure withinthe passenger cabin. Further, such a location may have lower levels ofstress in the skin of the aircraft and may be relatively easy to accessfor maintenance personnel.

FIG. 3A further shows an angle 302 showing that the launching system 106is positioned to deploy or eject the ejectable module 104 in an upwardand rearward direction. In this embodiment, the angle 302 is roughly45°, but various other angles may be used. FIG. 3B shows a front view ofthe same aircraft above the ground 306, and shows that the launchingsystem 106 is also positioned to deploy or eject the ejectable module104 at an angle 304 to the side with respect to the ground 306. In thisembodiment, the angle 304 is approximately 60°, or, in other words, theejectable module 104 is ejected at a 30° tilt away from the verticalstabilizer of the aircraft. The positioning and angle of deploymentshown in FIGS. 3A and 3B can be desirable for various reasons. Forexample, by having the ejectable module 104 ejected from an upperportion of the aircraft, it is more likely that, if the aircraft landsin the water in a normal orientation, the hole in the skin of theaircraft generated by the ejectable flight data recorder module 104 willbe above the waterline, and thus will not cause water to be taken on bythe aircraft through that hole. Further, it can be desirable to have theejectable module 104 not hit any portion of the aircraft 102 afterejection. Accordingly, it can be desirable to have the ejectable module104 ejected in a backward direction, as shown in FIG. 3A, so that theejectable module 104 can quickly clear the aircraft as the aircraft istraveling in the generally opposite direction. Further, with referenceto FIG. 3B, by setting angle 304 at approximately 60°, the ejectablemodule 104 can pass between the vertical stabilizer 312 and horizontalstabilizer 314, and likely will not hit the vertical stabilizer 312 orhorizontal stabilizer 314. Various other angles 302 and 304 may be usedin other embodiments, such as equal to, approximately, no greater than,or no less than 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 degrees.

Ejectable Flight Data Recorder System Structures

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate one example embodiment of the mechanicalstructure or layout of a portion of an ejectable flight data recordersystem 400. This embodiment comprises a supporting structure or frame402 positioned adjacent the aircraft fuselage or skin 404. Thesupporting structure or frame 402 comprises four columns 406 coupled totwo parallel plates 408. Extending between the parallel plates andcolumns 406 are four parallel plates 410. The plates 410 are used tosupport the launching system of the ejectable flight data recordersystem 400, namely the launching tube 106, control valve 108, andpressurized gas source 110.

The plates 408 each comprise a mounting flange 412 configured to bepositioned adjacent to the aircraft skin or fuselage 404 to enable thesystem to be coupled to the aircraft. In this embodiment, the controlleror control system 112 is also mounted to one of the plates 408. In thisembodiment, the centrally located launching tube 106 comprises anelongated cylindrical shape, and an internal cavity 414. The ejectablemodule 104 can be positioned within the internal cavity 414 inpreparation for launch from the launching tube 106.

FIGS. 5A-5E illustrate another example embodiment of a mechanicalstructure or layout of a portion of an ejectable flight data recordersystem 500. FIG. 5A illustrates a perspective view of the ejectableflight data recorder system 500 mounted to the fuselage of an aircraft404. In this embodiment, the structure comprises a plurality of columns406 that are coupled in more of a pyramid or triangular orientation thanthe system of FIGS. 4A-4E. This system still comprises, however, thelaunching tube 106, control valve 108, and pressurized gas source 110.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5E, the system comprises afrangible panel opening 502 configured to break apart when the ejectablemodule 104 is forced therethrough. FIG. 5B is an example depiction ofthe ejectable module 104 breaking through the frangible panel 502. FIGS.5C-5E illustrates additional details of the frangible panel 502 in anunbroken state. The frangible panel 502 comprises an outer extendingsurface 404 configured to be adjacent to or coupled with the skin of theaircraft. The panel 502 further comprises a plurality of grooves, scorelines, stress risers, and/or the like 504. In this embodiment, theplurality of grooves 504 are laid out in an arrangement that creates aplurality of pie shaped portions 506. When a nosecone of the ejectablemodule 104 is forced against a center portion 508 of the frangiblepanel, the grooves or stress risers 504 can cause the frangible panel tofracture or break or otherwise separate along the grooves 504, causingthe pie shaped portions 506 to rotate and/or break outwardly, allowingspace for the ejectable module 104 to pass therethrough, similarly to asshown in FIG. 5B. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5E, thefrangible panel 502 comprises an increased thickness portion 510. Inthis embodiment, the increased thickness portion 510 comprises a ring orhoop that generally surrounds the frangible portions and grooves 506,504. This ring or hoop can help to make sure fracturing of the paneldoes not extend beyond the ring and is limited to the area within thering. Although this embodiment uses a frangible panel 502, various otherembodiments may use other designs or configurations that allow theejectable module to pass through the aircraft skin or fuselage. Forexample, some embodiments may comprise one or more hinged doors, slidingdoors, spring-loaded doors, and/or the like. Further, some embodimentsmay comprise the ability to reclose the door after ejection, such as tolimit any negative aerodynamic effects of an opening in the skin orfuselage. In some embodiments, even an embodiment using a frangiblepanel design may include the ability to reclose the opening afterlaunching. For example, such an embodiment may comprise a second slidingor hinged panel that slides or rotates into place after the frangiblepanel has broken away.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate another embodiment of a portion of anejectable flight data recorder system 600. In these figures, only thelaunching system and ejectable module are shown, but the complete systemmay include other elements, such as a supporting structure, the controlsystem, sensors, and/or the like. FIG. 6A illustrates a perspective viewof the launching system. FIG. 6B illustrates a perspective exploded viewof the launching system. The launching system comprises the ejectablemodule 104 positioned within launching tube 106. At a base of thelaunching tube 106, the system comprises an upper housing portion 602coupled to a lower housing portion 604. The upper housing portion 602comprises a plurality of cavities 612 for positioning therein of aplurality of ejection modules or stored energy sources 610. In someembodiments, these ejection modules or energy sources 610 may comprise acompressed gas similar to the compressed gas sources illustrated inother embodiments. In some embodiments, however, these ejection modulesor energy sources 610 may utilize a different source of energy, such asa pyrotechnic based energy using solid propellant. For example, in someembodiments, the ejection modules or energy sources 610 may be similarin design to an airbag inflator as used in automobiles. For example, theejection module 610 may comprise an igniter configured to ignite apropellant that causes a rapid increase in pressure within the cavities612, and thus launches the ejectable module 104 from the launching tube106. In some embodiments, both a compressed gas source and a solidpropellant pyrotechnic-based source are used in combination. In someembodiments, a pyrotechnic based control valve is used to control therelease of the compressed gas.

FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate another embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder system 700. The ejectable flight data recorder system 700 issimilar in design to the flight data recorder system 600 describedabove, except for having a different upper and lower housing 602, 604design comprising three ejection modules 610 instead of four ejectionmodule 610. It is contemplated that various other arrangements and/ornumbers of ejection module 610 may be utilized to effectively launch theejectable module 104 from the launching tube 106.

Although several specific designs or layouts have been described withreference to FIGS. 4A-4D, 5A-5E, 6A, 6B, and 7A-7C, numerous otherconfigurations may be utilized as long as they are able to position theejectable module 104 adjacent a skin of the aircraft in preparation fordeployment. For example, some embodiments comprise a distributedstructure, meaning not necessarily all of the components are attached tothe same supporting structure. For example, in some embodiments, thecontrol system 112 may be independently mounted to the aircraft in adifferent area than the launching tube 106.

Ejectable Flight Data Recorder Modules

Various embodiments of ejectable flight data recorder modules aredescribed herein, for example with reference to FIGS. 8A-8E, FIGS.9A-9D, FIGS. 10A and 10B, FIGS. 10C-10G, and FIGS. 11A-11E, among otherfigures. Any of these ejectable flight data recorder modules 104 may beused with any of the systems disclosed herein, such as the ejectableflight data recorder system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, the ejectableflight data recorder system 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, and the like. Theejectable flight data recorder modules 104 are desirably designed to berelatively robust ejectable modules that can, for example, survive thestresses involved with a rapid ejection and landing on the ground orwater, last for extended periods of time on the water or ground,comprise redundant power sources and/or communication methods, and/orthe like. In some embodiments, such a relatively robust ejectable moduleis also desirably designed to be relatively lightweight. Reducing aweight of an ejectable module can have various benefits, including areduction in size of the system, a reduction in an amount of powerneeded to eject the ejectable module rapidly from the aircraft, the sizeof parachute needed to control a descent of the ejected ejectablemodule, and/or the like.

FIGS. 8A-8E illustrate one embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module 104. FIG. 8A illustrates a perspective view of theejectable flight data recorder module 104 after the module has beenejected from the aircraft and the module's parachute 802 has beendeployed. In this embodiment, the parachute 802 is coupled to a mainhousing 806 by a tether 804. In some embodiments, the ejectable flightdata recorder module 104 may comprise a water sensor and a solenoid orsimilar configured to automatically cause detachment of the parachute802 and/or tether 804 from the housing 806 after the ejectable module104 detects that the ejectable module 104 has landed on the ground orwater.

One beneficial design feature of the ejectable flight data recordermodule 104 illustrated in FIG. 8A is that the housing 806 comprises arelatively aerodynamic shape having a generally cylindrical outer shapeand a rounded or tapered nosecone 808. Such a shape can help to, forexample, enable the ejectable flight data recorder module 104 to beefficiently deployed or ejected rapidly away from the aircraft. Althoughless aerodynamic shapes could be used, it can be desirable to have anouter shape that is relatively aerodynamic, and thus allows for arelatively predictable flight path upon ejection from the aircraft. Thiscan help to limit a possibility that an ejected flight data recordermodule impacts another portion of the plane after ejection, such as thevertical or horizontal stabilizers. In some respects, the outer shape ofthe housing 806 of the ejectable flight data recorder module 104 issimilar to that of a bullet, and the launching tube from which theejectable flight data recorder module is ejected is similar to a barrelthrough which a bullet would be fired. The embodiment illustrated inFIG. 8A further comprises a recessed or flat portion 810 of the housingthat causes the outer surface of the housing to not be completelycylindrical along its full length. Not all embodiments of ejectableflight data recorder modules need or comprise such a recessed or flatportion 810. The recessed or flat portion 810 can be desirable in someembodiments, however, such as to have a solar panel positioned adjacentto it, to help in lowering a center of gravity of the device so that theflat portion 810 tends to face upward when the device is floating in thewater, and/or the like.

FIGS. 8B, 8C, and 8D illustrate additional views of the ejectable flightdata recorder module 104. FIG. 8B is a side view that shows theejectable module with a portion of the parachute tether 804 stillattached. FIG. 8C is a similar side view, but with the parachute tether804 detached and a portion of the outer housing 806 removed so that someof the internal components that are positioned within a cavity 807 ofthe housing 806 can be seen. FIG. 8D is a perspective view also with aportion of the housing 806 removed so that internal components can beseen. The ejectable flight data recorder module 104 further comprisestwo holes 812 in the outer housing 806. These holes can be sized andpositioned such that air passing by and/or through the holes when theejectable flight data recorder module is descending to the ground willcause a sound to be generated. In some embodiments, the holes 812 areconnected internally via a lumen, tube, air path, and/or the like thatis shaped similarly to a whistle to cause a whistling or high-pitchedsound to be generated when air passes therethrough. It can be beneficialin some embodiments for the ejectable module to generate a sound as itis descending, such as to warn people that may be in the vicinity of alanding area of the ejected module.

With reference to FIGS. 8C and 8D, some of the internal components, orcomponents positioned within a cavity 807 of the housing 806 maycomprise a support structure 814, a battery 815, an antenna 816, a firstcontroller or electronic control unit 818, a second controller orelectronic control unit 820, an electronic flight data recorder 822, anelectronic cockpit voice recorder 824, an electronic emergency locatortransmitter 826, and a solar panel 828. In this embodiment, the antenna816 is attached to the lower frame or support 814, the battery 815 isalso attached to the support 814, and the solar panel 828 is positionedon top of the battery 815. The other modules 818, 820, 822, 824, and 826are attached to an internal surface of the housing 816. The layout ofthe components in this embodiment can be beneficial, because, amongother things, the weight distribution can be such that a center ofgravity is offset from a longitudinal axis of the housing 806. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 8C, the center of gravity of thisembodiment would be below a horizontal longitudinal central axis of theejectable module 104, thus causing the lower support 814 to tend to bepositioned in a downward direction when the module 804 is floating onthe water. This can be desirable, for example, to enable the solar panel828 to be positioned upward such that it can receive light shiningthrough the flat panel 810, which may be clear or transparent. Further,maintaining a particular orientation of the device in the water may bedesirable for orientation of the antenna 816. In this embodiment, theantenna 816 comprises a generally cylindrical structure that ispositioned to be oriented in a generally vertical direction when theejectable module 104 is floating on the water.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8C comprises two controllers orelectronic control units 818, 820. Having more than one controller orelectronic control unit or computer processor may be desirable forvarious reasons. For example, it may be desirable to have redundantcontrollers in case one fails. It may also be desirable to have multiplecontrollers each having specific responsibilities. For example, onecontroller 818 may be configured to manage the power supply system ofthe ejectable module while another controller 820 is configured tocontrol or manage communications with external systems, such as via theantenna 816. In various embodiments, a greater or smaller number ofcontrollers or electronic control units may be utilized.

The electronic flight data recorder 822 and electronic cockpit voicerecorder 824 may be configured to, for example, store a copy of datasimilar to or identical to that which would typically be stored in anormal black boxes flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. Insome embodiments, the electronic flight data recorder 822 and electroniccockpit voice recorder 824 are separate devices within the ejectablemodule 104, and in some embodiments, the recorders 822 and 824 arecombined into a single unit. In some embodiments, the recorders 822and/or 824 comprise an electronic nonvolatile memory configured to storesuch flight data in a manner that reduces the risk of loss of that data,even if power is lost in the ejectable module 104.

The emergency locator transmitter 826 can be configured to, for example,transmit signals that can enable an external system to more easily findthe ejectable module 104 after the ejectable module 104 has landed inthe water or on the ground. The emergency locator transmitter 826 may insome embodiments comprise a relatively simple radio, such as a distresssignal generating circuit, that is configured to transmit a specifictype of data (e.g., a distress signal, GPS data, and/or the like) to aspecific type of receiver (e.g., a satellite network or the like) usinga relatively low amount of power. In other embodiments, the emergencylocator transmitter 826 may be configured to transmit additional data,transmit to more than one type of receiver, transmit using more than onefrequency, and/or the like.

FIG. 8E illustrates an embodiment of the ejectable flight data recordermodule 104 that further comprises a plurality of light generators orlaser light generators 830 positioned about the housing of the ejectableflight data recorder module 104. The light generators 830 can beconfigured to project light, such as laser light 832, as the ejectedflight data recorder module 104 descends to the ground. This light 832can act as a visual warning to people in the vicinity of a landing areaof the ejected flight data recorder module 104 or even to other flightsin the area. A benefit of such a configuration can be similar to abenefit of the acoustic warning system comprising the holes 812, in thatpeople in the vicinity of where the ejected module 104 will be landingmay have sufficient warning to get out of the way and not be harmed bythe ejected module. Further, other flights may have the ability tomaneuver around the descending module. Although this embodimentillustrates a plurality of light generators 830 positioned around thehousing of the ejectable module 104, various other embodiments may havea greater or fewer number of light generators 830, may position thelight generators anywhere on the device that allows light to betransmitted from the ejectable module, may have multiple types of lightgenerators, such as one or more strobe lights, one or more lasers,and/or the like.

In various embodiments, the housing 806 of the ejectable flight datarecorder module 104 can comprise various materials. In some embodiments,it can be desirable to utilize a lightweight but relatively strongmaterial, such as to enable the module 104 to be relatively small insize and lightweight, but still relatively robust to provide shockand/or heat protection to components within the housing 806. Further, itcan be desirable to use a material for the housing that comprisesthermal insulating properties, for protecting the internal components ofthe ejectable module from heat. For example, in some embodiments, thehousing 806 comprises a polycarbonate material. Another benefit of usinga polycarbonate material, or any other nonconductive material, is thatthe material will have little if any effect on radio transmissions to orfrom an antenna positioned within the cavity of the housing 806.Further, in some embodiments, at least a portion of the housing 806 canbe transparent. This can be beneficial to, for example, enable light topass through the housing and contact the solar panel 828 to generatepower. In some embodiments, the recessed or flat region 810 can comprisea transparent material. In some embodiments, other regions of thehousing 806 can also or alternatively comprise a transparent material.In some embodiments, some portions of the ejectable module 104 maycomprise titanium or other metals. For example, the housing 806, thesupporting frame 814, and any other supporting structure within thecavity 807 may comprise titanium, corrosion resistant stainless steel,or other metals. One benefit to using titanium is that titanium isrelatively lightweight when compared to steel. One benefit to usingcorrosion resistant stainless steel, or other steels, is that they canprovide a better grounding path for electronics. In some embodiments,the housing 806 may comprise a plurality of composite materials.

The embodiment of an ejectable module illustrated in FIGS. 8A-8Edesirably comprises an outer diameter of approximately 5 inches and alongitudinal length of approximately 15 inches. The module desirablyweighs approximately 12 pounds. In some embodiments, the mountingstructure and other hardware required to mount the ejectable module tothe aircraft and support the functionality of rejecting the module fromthe aircraft as needed can fit within a space that is approximately 2feet×2 feet×2 feet square, or a volume of 8 cubic feet. In someembodiments, the ejection energy source can add about 35 pounds ofweight to the system, for a compressed gas source, or about 30 pounds ofweight to the system, for a solid propellant source. With an ejectablemodule having an outer diameter of approximately 5 inches, this can leadto only needing to create a hole in the fuselage of the aircraft that isapproximately 6 inches or even slightly smaller. Various otherdimensions and ratios and weights of ejectable modules and the overallsystem may be used. However, these example figures provide an example ofan embodiment that can be relatively small and lightweight, leading tolittle, if any, impact on the aircraft the system is incorporated into.In some embodiments, the ejectable module may comprise an outer diameterthat is no greater than, for example, three, four, six, seven, eight,nine, or 10 inches. In some embodiments, the ejectable module maycomprise a longitudinal length that is no greater than, for example, 10,11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, or 30 inches. In someembodiments, the ejectable module can, for example, weigh no more thanfive, 10, 15, or 20 pounds.

Although a specific arrangement and configuration of components of theejectable flight data recorder module 104 are illustrated in FIGS. 8Cand 8D, various embodiments may comprise fewer or more components, maycombine one or more components together, may position them differentlyabout the cavity 807, and/or the like. For example, the embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 8C and 8D comprises only a single sustainable powersource, namely the solar panel 828. In other embodiments, however, nosustainable power source may be provided, a different sustainable powersource may be used, or multiple sustainable power sources may beincluded. Further, as described in more detail below, the ejectablemodule 104 may further comprise an acoustic search system configured totrack a sinking trajectory of the aircraft in a body of water.

FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate another embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module 104. This embodiment is similar to the embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 8A-8E. One difference, however, is that the housing806 shown in FIGS. 9A-9D comprises a longer longitudinal length. Such alonger longitudinal length can, for example, enable a moreaerodynamically stable shape, enable more internal cavity space forinclusion of supporting hardware, and/or the like. Another difference isthat the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 9A-9D comprises an externalantenna 916. In this embodiment, the external antenna 916 is configuredto be recessed within a slot or recessed portion 917 of the housing 806.After landing on the ground or water, the system is configured to deploythe external antenna 916, such as by rotating the antenna outward suchthat it extends radially from the housing 806. If the ejectable flightdata recorder module 104 is designed such that a center of gravity ispositioned below a longitudinal axis of the device with reference to theposition illustrated in FIG. 9D, this will desirably tend to cause thedevice to float on the water with the extended or deployed antenna 916pointing in a generally upward or vertical direction.

In some embodiments, the external antenna 916 may be the only antenna ofthe ejectable flight data recorder module 104. In other embodiments,multiple antennas may be included. For example, in some embodiments, itmay be desirable to have two or more antennas that are oriented indifferent directions. For example, the flight data recorder module 104may comprise an internal antenna 917 oriented parallel to a longitudinalaxis of the body 806, which would be perpendicular to the externalantenna 916 after the external antenna 916 has pivoted outward. Such aconfiguration may be desirable, for example, to increase a chance thatat least one of the antennas has a desirable alignment with an antennaof a remote system, such as on a satellite, boat, other aircraft, and/orthe like. In some embodiments, the external antenna 916, or even aninternal antenna, may be configured to be dynamically movable by thesystem. For example, the system may be configured to dynamically move orrotate any of the antennas at any particular time to obtain a moreefficient alignment with an external system's antenna.

In various embodiments, the ejectable module 104 is configured to bebuoyant, so that the module 104 can float on the surface of a body ofwater after deployment. In some embodiments, this buoyancy is created bythe housing 806 having a hollow cavity that enables the housing to belight enough to float relative to its overall volume. In someembodiments, the housing 806 is sealed to avoid intake of water into thecavity of the housing, which could reduce buoyancy of the ejected module104.

Impact Energy Dissipation

Various embodiments of ejectable flight data recorder modules disclosedherein comprise one or more features that help to dissipate, absorb,and/or reduce impact loads imparted onto the module as a result oflanding in the water or on the ground. For example, some embodimentsdisclosed herein comprise a rounded or tapered nosecone 808. In additionto providing aerodynamic benefits, such a rounded or tapered nosecone808 can help to redirect or deflect some of the impact load if theejectable flight data recorder module 104 hits the ground or water atany angle between vertical and horizontal. For example, if the ejectedflight data recorder module 104 hits the water oriented at anapproximately 45° angle, the rounded or tapered outer shape of thenosecone 808 can cause the ejected module to rotate and/or slide alongthe surface of the water, thus reducing or redirecting at least aportion of an impact load that would be otherwise imparted into thedevice if the device were to hit the water head-on at a flat surface ofthe ejectable module 104.

In some embodiments, the nosecone 808 further comprises one or moreenergy absorbing features that can be configured to further reduce animpact load imparted onto the components of the ejected flight datarecorder module 104. FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate one such embodiment.FIG. 10A illustrates an embodiment of a nosecone that comprises anenergy absorbing structure 1004 positioned over or about a portion ofthe housing 806. The energy absorbing structure 1004 may alternativelybe referred to as an impact absorbing structure, impact absorbingmember, energy absorbing member, and/or the like. FIG. 10A is anexploded view, which also shows a cover 1006 that is configured to bepositioned over the top of the energy absorbing structure 1004. FIG. 10Bis a partial cross sectional view of the energy absorbing structure 1004positioned over the housing 806.

The energy absorbing structure 1004 in this embodiment comprises agenerally rounded, tapered, and/or conical structure that comprises aplurality of openings 1008 positioned to allow the energy absorbingstructure 1004 to crush, crumple, deform, and/or the like in response toan impact of the energy absorbing structure 1004 with the ground orwater. Such crushing, crumpling, deformation, and/or the like can beused to convert some of the impact load into plastic deformation of theenergy absorbing structure 1004, and thus avoid imparting that impactload onto other components of the ejectable flight data recorder module104, such as the internal components and/or the housing 806.

Some embodiments do not include the cover 1006 positioned over theenergy absorbing structure 1004. However, in some embodiments, it can bedesirable to include a generally smooth cover over the energy absorbingstructure 1004, such as to increase the aerodynamic properties of theejectable flight data recorder module. For example, as mentioned above,it can be desirable to design the ejectable flight data recorder moduleto have a generally predictable ejection path or ejection flight pathafter the module is ejected from the aircraft and is traveling away fromthe aircraft. Without such a generally predictable ejection flight path,the risk is greater that an ejected flight data recorder module willimpact a portion of the aircraft, such as the vertical or horizontalstabilizers. By adding a smooth cover 1006 over the impact absorbingstructure 1004, the ejectable flight data recorder module may have asmoother and/or more aerodynamic outer surface, and thus may have a morepredictable and/or faster ejection flight path as the module is flyingaway from the aircraft.

In this embodiment, the impact absorbing structure 1004 comprises aplurality of openings 1008 positioned in a honeycomb type arrangement.Other embodiments may utilize other arrangements of openings and/orcavities in the impact absorbing structure, as long as they allow theimpact absorbing structure 1004 to plastically deform in response to animpact with the ground or water, thus absorbing at least a portion ofthat impact load.

With reference to the cross-sectional view of FIG. 10B, in thisembodiment, the energy absorbing structure 1004 comprises a proximal end1010 and a distal end 1012. The proximal end 1010 is coupled to thehousing 806. The distal end 1012, however, is not coupled to the housing806. Rather, a void, cavity, or open-space 1014 is formed between thehousing 806 and a portion of the impact absorbing structure 1004 that isdistal to the proximal end 1010. Having such a void, cavity, oropen-space 1014 can be desirable, for example, to allow room for theimpact absorbing structure 1004 to deform and absorb impact loads. Someembodiments may not include such a space 1014, however. Further, someembodiments may include such a space 1014, but may have the space 1014at least partially filled with a compressible material, such as a foamor the like. Further, in some embodiments, the plurality of holes orvoids 1008 may be filled with a compressible material, such as a foam orthe like. Such a configuration may in some embodiments provide thebenefits of a smooth cover 1006 without having a separate smooth cover1006. Specifically, filling the holes or voids 1008 with a compressiblematerial may enable the impact absorbing structure 1004 to have a moreaerodynamic profile, while still allowing the energy absorbing structure1004 to compress, crunch, crumple, deform, and/or the like upon impactwith the ground or water.

The impact absorbing structure 1004 can comprise various materials indifferent embodiments. The impact absorbing structure 1004 desirablycomprises a material that will plastically deform in response to animpact as opposed to breaking in a brittle manner. Although some energymay be absorbed by breaking in a brittle material, a greater amount ofenergy may be absorbed by deforming a plastically deformable material.For example, various embodiments of impact absorbing structures 1004 maycomprise aluminum, titanium, other metals, a polymer, foam, and/orvarious other materials. In some embodiments, it can be desirable forthe impact absorbing member 1004 to comprise a material that is lessrigid than the material of the housing 806.

FIGS. 10C-10G illustrate an alternative embodiment of a housing 806 ofan ejectable module 104 comprising impact absorbing structures 1004,1005 at both the nose cone end 808 of the housing 806 (the right end asoriented in FIG. 10D) and a tail end 809 of the housing 806 (the leftend as oriented in FIG. 10D). FIG. 10C illustrates a perspective view,FIG. 10D illustrates a side view, and FIG. 10E illustrates a side crosssectional view of the housing 806 having nose and tail or front and rearimpact absorbing structures 1004, 1005. FIG. 10F illustrates a detailcross-sectional view of the tail or rear impact absorbing structure1005. FIG. 10G illustrates a detail cross-sectional view of the nose orfront impact absorbing structure 1004. One benefit to having impactabsorbing structures at both the front and rear or nose and tail of theejectable module 104 is that, it is possible an ejectable module mayland on the ground or water in an orientation where the rear or tail endof the ejectable module 104 impacts the ground or water prior to thenose or front portion. In an embodiment where a parachute is attached tothe rear of the housing, and the housing comprises a relativelyaerodynamic shape, the likelihood of such an orientation upon impact islessened. However, if a portion of the parachute system fails, orsomething else occurs, such as turbulent air that causes the ejectablemodule 104 to tumble end over end while falling, it is still possiblethat the rear end of the ejectable module 104 may impact the ground orwater first. Further, in some embodiments, it may be desirable to notinclude a parachute system, and to allow the ejectable module 104 todescend in a freefall configuration, without a parachute system. In sucha case, the likelihood may be increased that the tail end or rear end809 of the ejectable module 104 impacts the ground or water before thefront-end or nose cone 808. Accordingly, in any of these situations, itmay be desirable to have impact absorbing properties available at therear or tail end 809 of the ejectable module 104 in addition to or as analternative to impact absorbing properties at the nose cone 808.Although not shown in these drawings, it is also envisioned that otherembodiments could comprise similar impact absorbing structurespositioned anywhere on the housing 806, such as disposed about a centralportion of the housing 806, potentially even encasing or surrounding theentire housing 806.

With reference to the detail cross-sectional view of the nose cone 808shown in FIG. 10G, it can be seen that the nose cone 808 and impactabsorbing material or structure 1004 is similar to the designillustrated in FIG. 10B. One difference, however, is that the impactabsorbing structure 1004 illustrated in FIG. 10G is attached to oradjacent to the housing 806 along its entire length, instead of having aspace or gap 1014 as illustrated in FIG. 10B. As discussed above,although a space or gap 1014 may have some advantages in someembodiments, it may also be desirable to not have such a space or gap1014. Another difference shown in FIG. 10G is that the nose cone 808 ofFIG. 10G comprises a threaded portion 1007 configured to allow the nosecone 808 to be separable from a main or central portion of the housing806. This may, for example, be desirable to enable efficient assemblyand/or maintenance of the ejectable module 104 and/or the internalcomponents of the ejectable module 104 (not shown in these drawings).Although a threaded region 1007 is not shown in FIG. 10B, such athreaded region 1007 may be added to the embodiment illustrated in FIG.10B.

As discussed above, it may be desirable for the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1004 to vary or taper along its length. For example,in the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 10B and 10G, the thickness ofthe impact absorbing structure 1004 may be, for example, approximately0.2 inches at the proximal end 1010 and approximately 0.4 inches at thedistal end 1012 (measured normal to the underlying housing 806 surface).Accordingly, in some embodiments, a ratio of the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012 to the thickness at theproximal end 1010 is approximately two. In other embodiments, this ratiomay be different, such as, for example, approximately, no greater than,or no less than 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, or 5. In someembodiments, the thickness of the impact absorbing structure 1004 at thedistal end 1012 may be different, such as, for example, approximately,no greater than, or no less than 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9,or 1.0 inches. In some embodiments, the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012 may be within a range of0.3-0.5 inches. In some embodiments, the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012 may be within a range of0.1-0.7 inches. Further, in some embodiments, the thickness of theimpact absorbing structure 1004 at the proximal end 1010 may bedifferent, such as, for example, approximately, no greater than, or noless than 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, or 1.0 inches. Insome embodiments, the thickness of the impact absorbing structure 1004at the proximal end 1010 may be within a range of 0.1-0.3 inches. Insome embodiments, the thickness of the impact absorbing structure 1004at the proximal end 1010 may be within a range of 0.1-0.7 inches. Inembodiments that include a gap or space 1014 as illustrated in FIG. 10B,this gap or space 1014 may comprise a length, measured along alongitudinal axis of the nose cone 808 (e.g., normal to the surface ofthe nose cone 808 at the distal tip), of, for example, approximately, nogreater than, or no less than 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8,0.9, or 1.0 inches. In some embodiments, the longitudinal length of thegap 1014 may be smaller than the thickness of the impact absorbingstructure 1004 at the distal end 1012. For example, a ratio of thelongitudinal length of the gap 1014 to the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012 may be, for example,approximately, no greater than, or no less than 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5,0.6, 0.7, 0.8, or 0.9. In some embodiments, the longitudinal length ofthe gap 1014 may be equal to the thickness of the impact absorbingstructure 1004 at the distal end 1012. In some embodiments, thelongitudinal length of the gap 1014 may be greater than the thickness ofthe impact absorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012. For example,a ratio of the longitudinal length of the gap 1014 to the thickness ofthe impact absorbing structure 1004 at the distal end 1012 may be, forexample, approximately, no greater than, or no less than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3,1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, or 2.0.

In some embodiments, the impact absorbing structure 1004 and/or 1005 ofan ejectable module is designed to adequately absorb impacts of afalling ejectable module regardless of whether the ejectable modulelands on the water or ground. In some embodiments, however, the impactabsorbing structures may be designed to adequately absorb an impact ofthe ejected module impacting a body of water, but not necessarilyimpacting a ground surface. Such a design can have many benefits. Forexample, by designing impact absorbing structures to absorb impactforces associated with a water landing only, the impact absorbingstructures can be smaller, thinner, lighter weight, and/or the like thanif they were designed to absorb water impact loads and ground impactloads. This is because the impact load imparted on an ejectable modulewhen landing in the water will likely be significantly less than if theejectable module landed on the ground. Another benefit of designing forabsorbing impact loads based on a water landing but not a ground landingis that other portions of the ejectable module can be smaller, lighterweight, thinner, and/or the like, too. For example, the housing 806 maybe lighter, thinner, smaller, and/or the like. This can also allow thelaunching system to be smaller, lighter, less powerful, and/or the like,since the ejectable module is also smaller and lighter. Accordingly,there can be many benefits to designing an ejectable module as disclosedherein to have higher chances of surviving a water landing, but to havea lesser chance of surviving a ground landing. Such a design can beacceptable in some cases, because the most likely place where it isgoing to be difficult to find a crashed aircraft is if the aircraftcrashes in a remote part of the ocean. Although a crash landing onground may still present difficulties in locating an aircraft, many ofthe features of an ejectable module as disclosed herein may be lessimportant in the event of a ground landing. For example, the aircraftmay have its own radio transmitters that are configured to transmit GPSor other location data to a satellite or other device after the aircrafthas crashed. If the aircraft crashes on the ground, such signals wouldnot be blocked as they would if the aircraft has sunken into the ocean.Further, some embodiments of ejectable modules disclosed herein comprisean acoustic tracking system to track the sinking trajectory of anaircraft in the water. Such functionality would not be needed in theevent of an aircraft crash on the ground.

With reference to the detail cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 10F,this embodiment also includes a rear or tail or back impact absorbingstructure 1005. Similarly to the front impact absorbing structure 1004,the rear impact absorbing structure 1005 can comprise a compressible orplastically deformable material, which may be the same material used forthe front impact absorbing structure 1004, or may be a differentmaterial. The rear impact absorbing structure 1005 similarly comprises aplurality of openings, holes, cutouts, voids, and/or the like 1008. Suchfeatures can help with the plastic deformation of the impact absorbingmaterial. The rear impact absorbing structure 1005 comprises a proximalend 1010 and a distal end 1012, like the front impact absorbingstructure 1004. At the radial outer portion 1015 of the impact absorbingstructure 1005, it can be desirable for the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1005 to taper or increase in thickness as it goesfrom the proximal end 1010 to the distal end 1012. Further, it can bedesirable for the thickness of the impact absorbing structure 1005 totaper from a thinner thickness at a radial center point 1013 of thestructure 1005 to a thicker thickness at the radial outer portion 1015of the structure 1005. Such a design can lead to a protruding orincreased thickness ring or protruding member 1017 extending around acircumference of the rear end 809 of the housing 806. This can be adesirable configuration in some embodiments, because if the rear end 809of the housing 806 contacts the ground or water before the front-end,the circumferential edge of the rear end of the housing is likely to bethe portion that contacts the ground or water first. Accordingly, it canbe desirable for the thickness of the impact absorbing structure 1005 tobe greatest in that area. Further, by having the thickness of the impactabsorbing structure 1005 taper down to a thinner thickness away from thecorner protruding member or ring 1017, this can help to provide an areafor that raised material to plastically deform into upon impact.Further, weight of the material can be reduced by having the material bethinner in other areas.

Various dimensions or thicknesses of the impact absorbing structure 1005may be used. In this embodiment, at the protruding ring 1017, athickness of the impact absorbing structure 1005 measured in a radialdirection from the radially outermost edge of the housing 806 to theradially outermost edge of the impact absorbing structure 1005 isapproximately 0.2 inches. Further, a longitudinal length measured fromthe rearmost edge of the housing 806 (the leftmost edge as oriented inFIG. 10F) to the rearmost edge of the impact absorbing structure 1005 isapproximately 0.2 inches. By having both of these dimensions be similaror the same, the configuration of the impact absorbing structure 1005can be configured to have its most impact absorbing properties when theejectable module lands with its longitudinal axis oriented at an angleof approximately 45° to the ground or water. In some embodiments, thesedimensions may be different from one another, such as to design fordifferent anticipated angles of impact. Further, the actual amount thatthe impact absorbing structure extends from the housing 806 in eitherthe radial direction or longitudinal direction may be different than 0.2inches in some embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, either ofthose two dimensions may be approximately, exactly, no greater than, orno less than 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, or 1.0 inches.In some embodiments, either of these dimensions can be within a range of0.1-0.3 inches. In some embodiments, either of these dimensions can bewithin a range of 0.1-0.5 inches.

Various embodiments disclosed herein may comprise various other impactabsorbing technologies in addition to or in lieu of impact absorbingstructures on the nose or tail of the ejectable module. For example, insome embodiments, one or more of the internal components located in thecavity of the housing (e.g., the components shown in FIG. 8C) may beencased in an impact absorbing material (e.g., foam, rubber, pottingcompound, polymer, and/or the like) that helps to lessen thetransmission of an impact load or shock from outside of the housing tothe components inside the housing. Further, the exterior shape of theimpact absorbing structures at the nose cone, tail section, or anywhereelse on the housing may be different shapes. For example, althoughembodiments herein illustrate an impact absorbing structure 1004 at anose cone that comprises a generally tapered shape, some embodiments maycomprise a flat shape, rounded shape, cylindrical shape, and/or thelike. Further, although some embodiments herein illustrate an impactabsorbing structure 1005 at a tail section that comprises a thinnercentral region 1013 and a thicker radially outer region 1015, someembodiments may comprise a shape that comprises a consistent thicknessthroughout, that extends further in a longitudinal direction along anouter surface of the housing 806 (i.e. toward the nose section), that istapered in shape similar to the shape of the nose cone impact absorbingstructure 1004, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the ejectablemodule comprises one or more fins configured to help stabilize a descentof the ejectable module after ejection (similar to fins used on rockets,missiles, and the like). In some embodiments, such fins can help toincrease a likelihood that the nose impacts the water or ground beforethe tail. In some embodiments, the fins are configured to be deployedafter launching, so that the launching tube (such as launching tube 106)can be cylindrical and does not need to be configured to accommodate thefins.

Aircraft Sinking Path Detection

Some embodiments of ejectable flight data recorder systems disclosedherein comprise functionality that enables the ejected flight datarecorder module to track a sinking trajectory of an aircraft after theaircraft has crashed in a body of water. Such a system can be desirable,because it can be extremely difficult for searchers to locate anaircraft that has sunken to the ocean floor, particularly in very deepportions of the ocean. Further, even if searchers are able toapproximate an entry point into the water, or a point of impact of theaircraft with the surface of the water, that point of impact could betens or hundreds of miles from the final resting place of the aircraftwhen it reaches the ocean floor. Without a good estimate of the sinkingpath or trajectory that the aircraft follows as it is sinking to theocean floor, the search radius or the area required to be searchedaround the estimated point of impact can be enormous, and could takemonths or years to exhaustively search.

Various embodiments disclosed herein solve this problem by, among otherthings, enabling the ejectable module to track a sinking trajectory ofthe aircraft as the aircraft is sinking in the water. By knowing thesinking trajectory of the aircraft in the water, searchers may be ableto restrict their search area or radius to a much smaller area that canbe searched much more quickly. In some embodiments, the ejectable flightdata recorder module comprises an acoustic tracking system, such as theacoustic tracking system 242 of FIG. 2. Such a system can be configuredto deploy one or more hydrophones or other acoustic-based sensors and/ordevices, such as sonar, that can detect audio signals from the sinkingaircraft, such as from an underwater locator beacon of the aircraft.Although embodiments disclosed herein are discussed with reference to anacoustic tracking system, similar techniques could be used with othersinking trajectory tracking systems, such as systems that use optics,radio waves, or the like. It can be desirable to use an acoustic-basedsystem, however, because soundwaves can tend to travel further throughwater and/or travel through water with less distortion.

In some embodiments, an acoustic tracking system can be configured tocooperate with the radio and antenna of the ejected flight data recordermodule in order to transmit, either in real-time or with a delay, datato an external system that can help searchers determine the sinkingtrajectory of the aircraft.

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate an embodiment of an ejectable flight datarecorder module 104 that comprises an acoustic tracking system 242. Thisembodiment is similar to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 8A-8E, withthe addition of the acoustic tracking system 242. FIG. 11A shows a sideview of the ejectable module 104, and FIG. 11B shows a side view with aportion of the housing 806 removed so that internal components of theejectable module 104 can be seen. The housing 806 desirably incorporatesone or more hinged doors 1102 that are hinged along an edge, such asedge 1104. The doors 1102 are configured to conceal a cavity havingportions of the acoustic tracking system positioned therein. In thisembodiment, with reference to FIG. 11B, the acoustic tracking system 242comprises two sensors 1106, such as hydrophones, and a sensor separationdevice 1108 coupled to the sensors 1106. The sensors 1106 and sensorseparation device 1108 are positioned within the cavity concealed by thedoors 1102.

FIGS. 11C-11E illustrates a deployment sequence of the acoustic trackingsystem. In FIG. 11C, the hinged doors 1102 have opened by rotatingoutwardly along edge 1104. The system may be configured to, for example,detect a water landing, such as by a water sensor of the ejectablemodule 104 detecting the presence of water, and the system may beconfigured to automatically open the doors 1102 to begin the acoustictracking system deployment process. In some embodiments, the cavitywithin which the acoustic sensors and sensor separation device arestored is sealed from the main cavity of the housing, such as to avoidwater entering the main cavity and causing the ejectable module 104 tolose buoyancy.

With reference to FIG. 11D, the next step in the deployment process isthat the sensors 1106 begin descending from the housing 806 of theejectable module 104. As the sensors 1106 descend in the water from thehousing 806, they may remain tethered to the housing 806 via tethers orcables 1107. In some embodiments, these tethers or cables 1107 may alsoenable the sensors 1106 to transmit data back to the floating ejectablemodule 104. In some embodiments, however, the sensors 1106 areconfigured to wirelessly transmit data back to the floating ejectablemodule 104. In some embodiments, the tethers or cables 1107 areapproximately 10 feet long. In other embodiments, the tethers or cables1107 may comprise a different length, such as, for example,approximately, no less than, or no greater than five, 15, 20, 25, 30,40, or 50 feet.

The sensor separation device 1108 is configured to separate the acousticsensors 1106 from one another after being deployed from the housing 806of the ejectable module 104. This can be seen in FIG. 11E, where theacoustic sensors 1106 are extended away from the housing 806 and awayfrom one another. The sensor separation device 1108 may take variousforms. In this embodiment, the separation device 1108 is depicted as aspring that is compressed before deployment of the sensors, and extendsafter deployment to separate the sensors 1106 from one another. In someembodiments, other methods of separating the acoustic sensors 1106 maybe used, such as telescoping rods, the tethers 1107 being rigid andhaving a rotational spring acting on them to separate the tethers 1107,and/or the like. It can be desirable to separate the sensors 1106,because the greater the separation between the sensors 1106, the moreaccurately a transmission source of a detected sound can be estimated.However, any amount of separation of the sensors can be helpful, even ifthe separation is not enough to enable a highly accurate positionestimate of the sinking aircraft. Even a relatively rough estimate ofthe position of the aircraft as it sinks in the water can have arelatively large effect on the size of the search area.

With reference to FIG. 11E, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 11E, in someembodiments, the acoustic tracking system may be configured to cause theacoustic sensors 1106 to rotate about a vertical axis and/or may beconfigured to track an orientation of the sensors 1106 about thevertical axis. This can be desirable, because without knowing anorientation of the sensors 1106, either directly or indirectly, thesystem may still be able to estimate a distance of the aircraft from theacoustic tracking system, but may not be able to estimate a heading atwhich the sinking aircraft is located from the acoustic tracking system.Accordingly, it can be desirable to know, either directly or indirectly,a current orientation of the tracking array or sensor array comprisingthe two or more acoustic sensors 1106. For example, in some embodiments,the system is configured to directly detect an orientation of theacoustic sensors 1106 by, for example, receiving data from a digitalcompass located in or coupled to one or more of the acoustic sensors1106, one or more of the tethers 1107, and/or the sensor separationdevice 1108. Another method of directly detecting the orientation of thesensor array is by tracking an orientation of the tethers 1107 withrespect to the housing 806. Another method of directly detecting theorientation of the sensor array is by the housing of the floatingejectable system comprising one or more cameras that can opticallydetect a position of the sensors 1106 with respect to the housing 806.

Alternatively, or additionally, in some embodiments, the system may beconfigured to indirectly track or at least estimate a currentorientation of the acoustic sensors 1106. For example, the system may beconfigured such that the acoustic sensors 1106 are deployed from thehousing 806 and tend to remain in a predetermined relative position withrespect to the housing 806. For example, the tethers 1107 and/or sensorseparation device or system 1108 may be configured to not be rotatableabout the vertical axis with respect to the housing 806, or to berotatable with respect to the housing 806 about the vertical axis withinonly a limited range. In such an embodiment, the acoustic trackingsystem may be able to indirectly estimate a current orientation of theacoustic sensors 1106 by detecting a current orientation of the housing806, such as by using a digital compass, GPS sensor, and/or the likecoupled to the housing 806.

In some embodiments, the system is configured to actively change theorientation of the acoustic sensors 1106 about the vertical axis. Forexample, the acoustic tracking system may comprise an actuator thatcauses rotation of the tethers 1107 and/or sensor separation device 1108about the vertical axis with respect to the housing 806. As anotherexample, the housing 806 may comprise or be coupled to a propulsionmodule comprising a propeller, compressed gas, or other mechanism thatcan cause rotation of the housing 806 about the vertical axis withrespect to the water the housing 806 is currently floating in. Asanother example, the acoustic sensors 1106, tethers 1107, and/or sensorseparation device 1108 may comprise or be coupled to a propulsion modulecomprising a propeller, compressed gas, or other mechanism that can beactuated to cause the sensors 1106 to rotate about the vertical axis.Such functionality can be desirable, for example, to enable the sensorarray to be positioned in an orientation that can more accurately trackthe sinking trajectory of the aircraft.

In some embodiments, the system is configured to cause rotation of theacoustic sensors 1106 about the vertical axis, using any of the abovemethods, until the system detects a signal from the sinking aircraft andis able to estimate a heading of the aircraft from the acoustic trackingsystem. The system can then be configured to orient the acoustic sensorsin an orientation that can most efficiently track the sinking aircraft,such as an orientation where a line drawn between the two sensors 1106is perpendicular to a line between the vertical axis and the currentposition of the aircraft. In some embodiments, the system can beconfigured to then dynamically make adjustments to the orientation ofthe sensors 1106 as needed to continue tracking the aircraft as itsinks. As mentioned above with reference to the separation distancebetween the acoustic sensors, functionality related to the orientationof the sensors 1106 about the vertical axis can be helpful to moreaccurately track the sinking trajectory of the aircraft. Suchfunctionality is not required, however, and even a less accurateestimate of the sinking trajectory of the aircraft can have asignificant effect on the required search radius or search area.Further, even in a system where the floating ejectable module 104 is notconfigured to actively control a rotational position of the acousticsensors 1106, the waves or currents of the body of water the ejectablemodule 104 is floating in will likely cause the acoustic sensors 1106 toexperience at least some rotation about the vertical axis, which canenable the acoustic sensors 1106 to be at least passively reorientedinto various headings.

In some embodiments, the acoustic tracking system comprises only oneacoustic sensor 1106. For example, the system may comprise a singleacoustic sensor 1106 that is configured to be omnidirectional, and thesystem may be configured to track a distance of the sinking aircraftfrom the acoustic sensor, but not necessarily a heading. In someembodiments, the system may comprise a single acoustic sensor 1106 thatis configured to be directional, thus enabling distance and headingestimation. Having more than one sensor 1106 may be desirable, however,particularly if the sensors have some separation between them. Further,in some embodiments, the system comprises more than two sensors 1106,such as three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, or more. Thevarious sensors can be configured to be deployed in various shapes ofarrays. For example, in some embodiments, the system may comprise fouracoustic sensors 1106 and a separation device or system 1108 that isconfigured to deploy the four acoustic sensors generally equally spacedabout a 360° circle. Such an embodiment may be desirable, for example,because there would never be an instance where a line drawn from thesensor array to the sinking aircraft is collinear with a line drawnbetween all of the sensors, as could be possible in a system having allof the sensors in a collinear arrangement. Rather, in a systemcomprising four sensors 1106 that are equally spaced about a 360°circle, if a line drawn between two opposite sensors is collinear with aline drawn between a center of the sensor array and the sinkingaircraft, then the other two sensors will be in an ideal arrangement,specifically a line drawn between those two sensors being perpendicularto a line drawn from the aircraft to a center of the sensor array.

FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of a floating ejectable module104 operating an acoustic tracking system 242 to track a sinkingaircraft 102. In this embodiment, the sinking aircraft 102 comprises anunderwater locator beacon 1210 and an electronic locator transmitter1212. The underwater locator beacon 1210 is configured to transmit soundwaves or audio signals, and the electronic locator transmitter 1212 isconfigured to transmit radio waves. As can be seen in FIG. 12, becausethe aircraft has sunk sufficiently in the water, the electronic locatortransmitter 1212 is incapable of transmitting radio signals via signalpath 1216 to a satellite 1214 (or other remote system, such as anaircraft, boat, buoy, or even the floating ejectable module 104). Sincesound waves can travel further in water than radio waves, however, theunderwater locator beacon 1210 is able to transmit sound waves to theunderwater acoustic sensors 1106 via signal paths 1220 and 1221. Thefloating ejectable module 104 can then analyze this received data toestimate a current location and/or sinking trajectory of the aircraft102. Since the floating ejectable module 104 is above the water, or atleast comprises one or more antennas positioned above a waterline 1201,the floating ejectable module 104 can be configured to then transmitthis data via radio signal path 1218 to the satellite 1214 (or otherremote system, such as an aircraft, boat, buoy, and/or the like).

In some embodiments, instead of the floating ejectable module 104calculating a sinking trajectory of the aircraft 102, the floatingejectable module 104 may be configured to store data received from theacoustic sensors 1106 and/or transmit data received from the acousticsensors 1106 to a remote system, and the remote system may be configuredto do the actual analysis of that data to determine an estimatedlocation and/or sinking trajectory of the aircraft. Further, in someembodiments, the floating ejectable module 104 may be configured tostore locally on its nonvolatile memory the data received from theacoustic sensors 1106 and/or a calculated position and/or sinkingtrajectory of the aircraft 102.

Robust and Safe Deployment System

As discussed above, various embodiments of ejectable flight datarecorder systems disclosed herein are designed to make it less likelythat an ejectable module will be ejected at a time when it would be morelikely to cause harm to people outside the aircraft and/or at a timewhen recovery or locating of the crashed aircraft might be relativelyeasy. Further, various embodiments of ejectable flight data recordersystems disclosed herein are configured to analyze data from varioussensors and/or an aircraft data bus to determine, among other things,when an emergency situation is potentially occurring, what type ofsituation is occurring, and whether and when to cause ejection of theejectable module based on those conditions.

For example, in a situation where an immediate loss of the aircraft islikely, such as in the event of an explosion, the system may beconfigured to detect this event and cause ejection of the ejectablemodule without delay, or with relatively minimal delay, in order toincrease the likelihood that the ejectable module is not destroyed bythe explosion. In such a case, particularly when the aircraft is at arelatively high altitude, such as a cruising altitude, the ejectablemodule may end up landing a relatively far distance from the aircraftwreckage. This may be more desirable, however, than the alternative,which may be that ejection is delayed and the ejectable module getsdestroyed along with the rest of the aircraft.

As another example, in some emergency situations, the ejectable flightdata recorder system may be able to detect a potential emergencysituation is occurring well before harm to the aircraft and/or ejectableflight data recorder system will occur. For example, if flight controlis lost while the aircraft is cruising, such as all engines of theaircraft ceasing to operate and/or the pilot losing the ability tocontrol flight surfaces, this may be an emergency situation that islikely to lead to a crash, but that may last several minutes before theaircraft actually crashes. In such a case, it may be desirable to ensurethat the ejectable module is ejected prior to the crash, but to delayits ejection until just before the crash. One benefit, among others, ofwaiting until just before the crash is that the ejected module willlikely end up landing relatively close to the aircraft crash site. Ifsearchers are able to locate the ejected module, that may help to narrowthe search area required to find the actual aircraft wreckage. Further,in embodiments that comprise an acoustic tracking system that can trackthe sinking trajectory of the aircraft, causing the ejectable module toland relatively close to the aircraft wreckage may increase the accuracyof its acoustic tracking system.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a portion of an embodiment of an ejectableflight data recorder system. The block diagram of FIG. 13 comprises anejection controller 222, an arming controller 220, and a launchingsystem 254. These three components may, for example, be the ejectioncontroller 222, arming controller 220, and launching system 254illustrated in FIG. 2, discussed above. FIG. 13 illustrates additionaldetails of example embodiments of the ejection controller 222 and armingcontroller 220, however.

The ejection controller 222 can be configured to analyze data receivedfrom one or more sensors and/or an aircraft data bus to determinewhether one or more ejection conditions has occurred or is occurring. Insome embodiments, this analysis may be referred to as the ejectioncontroller 222 implementing ejection logic. FIG. 13 illustrates fourexample ejection conditions, but other embodiments may comprise lessejection conditions, more ejection conditions, or any other combinationof ejection conditions. The example ejection conditions illustrated inFIG. 13 are ejection condition one, labeled box 1301, ejection conditiontwo, labeled box 1302, ejection condition three, labeled box 1303, andejection condition four, labeled box 1304. Ejection condition one maybe, for example, a determination that the aircraft is descending and islikely to crash into the ground or a body of water. For example, theejection controller 222 may be configured to analyze altitude data,airspeed data, geographic position data, topographical map data relatedto a present geographic area, and/or the like, to calculate or estimatea remaining time to impact with the ground or body of water. Theejection controller 222 can be configured to then cause the launchingsystem 254 to eject the ejectable module shortly before the anticipatedimpact with the ground or body of water. The amount of time before theanticipated impact that the system is configured to cause ejection ofthe ejectable module can be configured to take into account, forexample, the amount of time it takes for the launching system 254 tolaunch the ejectable module after receiving an ejection command, anadditional buffer of time that compensates for potential inaccuracies inthe altitude, airspeed, geographic position, and/or topographical mapdata, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the ejection controller 222is configured to cause launching of the ejectable module or system nomore than five seconds before the system anticipates the aircraft willcrash into the ground or water. In other embodiments, this time may bedifferent. For example, in some embodiments, the ejection controller 222is configured to cause launching of the ejectable module or system nomore than one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 15, 20,25, or 30 seconds before the system anticipates the aircraft will crashinto the ground or water.

In some embodiments, the amount of time before an estimated time ofimpact that the system is configured to launch the ejectable module isdifferent depending on whether the aircraft is crashing into the wateror onto the ground. In some embodiments, the ejectable module isconfigured to be ejected sooner when the aircraft is crashing onto theground than if it were crashing into the water. This may be desirablefor a variety of reasons. For example, when the aircraft is crashing tothe ground, instead of into a body of water, it can be more difficult toknow at exactly what altitude the aircraft will impact the ground. Forexample, when crashing into a mountainous region, a slight change in thecurrent trajectory of the descending aircraft could have a relativelylarge impact on the time to impact and/or the altitude at which theaircraft impacts the ground. Accordingly, it can be desirable to have alarger safety buffer of time to make sure the ejectable module isejected prior to the aircraft crashing. As another example, when anaircraft is crashing onto the ground instead of into a body of water, itmay be more likely that the aircraft will be found more easily than ifthe aircraft had crashed in a deep remote portion of an ocean. Forexample, the aircraft crash site may be observable in satellite imagery,the crashed aircraft itself may be able to send out a distress signal toa satellite or other device, and/or the like. Further, the tracking of asinking trajectory of the aircraft is not needed when the aircraftcrashes on the ground. Accordingly, although it can still be helpful tohave the ejectable module land relatively close to the impact site ofthe aircraft, it may be less important that the ejectable module landnear to where the aircraft impacts than if the aircraft were landing inwater.

With continued reference to FIG. 13, example ejection condition two maycomprise, for example, the ejection controller 222 detecting that acollision has occurred. For example, the ejection controller 222 may beconfigured to analyze data from one or more sensors, the aircraft databus, and/or the like and determine that a collision has occurred. Thesystem may be configured to determine that a collision has occurredbased on, for example, data received from a dedicated collision sensor,acceleration data received from an accelerometer, and/or the like. Insome embodiments, the ejection controller 222 may be configured toautomatically attempt to initiate launching of the ejectable module orejectable system in response to detection of a collision. In someembodiments, however, the ejection controller 222 may be configured toconduct additional analysis to determine or estimate, for example, aseverity of the collision, a likelihood that the collision will resultin a catastrophic loss of the aircraft, and/or the like before causingthe launching system 254 to eject to the ejectable system.

Example ejection conditions three and four shown in FIG. 13 are bothrelated to detection of an explosion of or onboard the aircraft and/oran extensive fire. One difficulty with responding to an explosion on anaircraft is that the explosion occurs rapidly, and delay in causingejection of an ejectable flight data recorder module could lead to theejectable module being destroyed in the explosion along with the rest ofthe aircraft. Blocks 1303 and 1304 illustrate two potential ways ofdealing with such a situation. For example, ejection condition fourcomprises the ejection controller 222 determining that bus power hasbeen lost, which will likely occur in the event of an explosion, andalso determining that a shock load typical of an explosion has occurred.For example, the ejection controller 222 may be configured to monitorthe bus power of the aircraft and to monitor one or more shock sensors,collision sensors, accelerometers, and/or the like. If the ejectioncontroller 222 detects both loss of bus power and a shock load, thesystem may be configured to determine that an explosion has likelyoccurred, and rapidly cause the launching system 254 to eject theejectable module.

In a case where the aircraft bus power is lost, but a shock load is notdetected by the ejection controller 222, the system may be configured todelay a predetermined amount of time before causing the ejectable moduleto deploy. This may be desirable, for example, because there could besituations where there is a glitch in the system and bus power istemporarily lost. If the bus power is restored within the predeterminedamount of time, this makes it more likely an explosion has not occurred,and the ejection controller 222 may be configured to not cause launchingof the ejectable module. If the predetermined amount of time passes,however, and bus power has still not returned, this may make it morelikely that an explosion or other catastrophic event, such as anextensive fire, has occurred, and the ejection controller 222 may beconfigured to cause the launching system 254 to launch the ejectablemodule. In some embodiments, if the ejection controller 222 is stillcapable of receiving sufficient data to determine or estimate when theaircraft will crash, the ejection controller 222 may revert to operatingunder ejection condition one shown at block 1301, meaning the system mayestimate the time to impact and delay causing ejection of the ejectablemodule until just before the crash.

With further reference to FIG. 13, the arming controller 220 isconfigured to analyze data from various sensors and/or the aircraft databus to set an arming state of the ejectable flight data recorder system.In some embodiments, this analysis may be referred to as the armingcontroller 220 implementing arming logic. One benefit of the armingcontroller 220 is that the launching system 254 can be disarmed orprevented from ejecting the ejectable system in situations where suchejection might be more likely to cause harm to people or property and/orwhen it is less likely that the aircraft would be difficult to find inthe event of a crash. For example, block 1308 illustrates an on-grounddisabling condition. With this condition, the arming controller 220 isconfigured to analyze data to detect that the aircraft is on the ground,sometimes referred to as weight-on-wheels. In this situation, the armingcontroller 220 can be configured to disable the system such that anydetection of an ejection condition by the ejection controller 222 doesnot cause ejection of the ejectable module. For example, the armingcontroller 222 can be configured to cause the relief valve 150 to open.This is for at least a couple reasons. First, if the aircraft is on theground, this is the time of greatest risk that a person may be presentnear the ejection location of the ejectable system, and thus that personcould be harmed by the ejection of the ejectable system. Second, if theaircraft is on the ground, it is unlikely that a prolonged or difficultsearch would be required to locate the aircraft in the event of anemergency.

The arming controller 220 further comprises block 1306, which comprisesfunctionality for the arming controller 220 to selectively anddynamically arm or disarm the launching system 254 based on a presentlocation of the aircraft. In some embodiments, the arming controller 220is configured to dynamically arm or disarm the system based on altitudedata, geographic location data, a distance of the aircraft from alandmark, such as a city, populated area, terrain feature, and/or thelike. For example, the arming controller 220 may be configured toanalyze geographic location data, such as generated by a GPS sensor, andcompare that to map or other data that allows the arming controller 220to determine if the aircraft is within a predetermined distance of alandmark. If the Arming controller 220 determines the aircraft is withinthe predetermined distance from the landmark, the arming controller 220may be configured to automatically or dynamically disarm the system. Asone example of this, the landmark may comprise a city or other populatedarea, and the arming controller 220 may be configured to disarm thelaunching system 254 when the arming controller 220 detects the aircraftis within 100 miles of the landmark. This can be desirable for at leasta couple reasons. First, if the aircraft is near a city or otherpopulated area, the risk is higher that a person or property may bedamaged by a descending ejectable module. Second, if the aircraft isnear a city or other populated area the aircraft will likely be mucheasier to find after a crash than if the aircraft were further away froma populated area.

As another example of location-based arming that can be implemented bythe arming controller 220, the arming controller 220 may be configuredto analyze altitude data and dynamically or automatically arm and disarmthe launching system 254 based on a present altitude of the aircraft.For example, the arming controller 220 may be configured to dynamicallydisarm the launching system 254 once an aircraft has taken off andreached a predetermined lower threshold altitude. This predeterminedlower threshold altitude may be, for example, set at a level where it isless likely that an aircraft will have time to recover from an emergencysituation when an emergency situation occurs. For example, in someembodiments, the predetermined lower threshold altitude may be 6000feet. In other embodiments, the predetermined lower threshold altitudemay be lower or higher, such as, for example, no greater than 1000,2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, 8000, 9000, or 10,000 feet.

Further, in some embodiments, the arming controller 220 may comprise anupper threshold altitude above which the arming controller 220 isconfigured to rearm the launching system 254. For example, thepredetermined upper threshold altitude may be equal to the designedservice ceiling of the present aircraft. This may be desirable, forexample, because the aircraft exceeding its designed service ceiling maybe an indicator that something is wrong and an emergency may beoccurring. In some embodiments, the predetermined upper threshold levelis not set at exactly the service ceiling of the aircraft, but rather isset relatively close to the service ceiling, such as within 500, 1000,1500, 2000, or 2500 feet of the service ceiling.

In some embodiments, the arming controller 220 is configured tosimultaneously take into account altitude data and geographic locationdata in determining when to arm or disarm the launching system 254. Forexample, in some embodiments, if the system is configured to disarm thelaunching system within 100 miles of a center of a city, and between6000 feet and the service ceiling of the aircraft, then a disarmedregion may be created that is cylindrical in shape, centered at the citycenter, and extending above the city from 6000 feet to the serviceceiling of the aircraft. In some embodiments, however, the geographicposition-based disarming may be independent of the altitude-basedarming, and may trump or override the altitude-based arming. Forexample, the system may be configured to be armed above the serviceceiling of the aircraft, but then be disarmed when the aircraft entersthe cylindrical region above the city, even if the aircraft is stillabove the service ceiling.

As discussed above, although utilizing an arming controller 220 todynamically disarm the launching system 254 when certain conditions arepresent may be desirable, there may be situations where it is moredesirable to cause ejection of the ejectable module anyway, regardlessof, for example, the current altitude or geographic position of theaircraft. For example, in the event of an explosion, ejecting theejectable flight data recorder module may be deemed more important thana relatively small risk that someone on the ground be hit by the ejectedmodule. One reason for this is that, if the aircraft is exploding, thencomponents of the aircraft are likely going to come crashing to theground anyway, and ejecting the ejectable module may not increase therisk of harm to people on the ground much more than the risk already isfrom those people getting hit by pieces of the aircraft.

To address such a situation, the ejection controller 222 may beconfigured to bypass at least some of the arming or disarming conditionsof the arming controller 220 in response to detection of at least someejection conditions. As shown in FIG. 13, ejection conditions three andfour are configured to bypass the altitude-based and location-basedarming conditions of the arming controller 220, but still obey the onground disabling condition. Accordingly, if ejection conditions three orfour occur, which correspond to the ejection controller 222 detecting anexplosion, the ejection controller 222 may be configured to cause thelaunching system 254 to eject the ejectable module, regardless of theaircraft's present position, unless the aircraft is presently on theground. In some embodiments, at least some ejection conditions may beconfigured to bypass all disarming mechanisms, including the on-grounddisabling condition 1308.

As shown in FIG. 13, the functionality where some ejection conditionsare configured to ignore some arming conditions set by the armingcontroller 220 can be referred to as different ejection conditionshaving different authority levels. As shown in FIG. 13, the ejectionconditions near the bottom of block 222 have a lower authority levelthan the ejection conditions near the top of block 222. Accordingly,ejection conditions one and two, having a lower level of authority, areconfigured to obey the altitude-based and location-based armingconditions of the arming controller 220. Ejection conditions three andfour, corresponding to a higher level of authority, however, areconfigured to not obey the altitude-based and location-based armingconditions of the arming controller 220.

Arming Examples

FIGS. 14A-14C and 15 illustrate examples of how an aircraft 100 may haveits ejectable flight data recorder system dynamically armed or disarmedbased on a location of the aircraft. FIG. 14A illustrates an example ofarming or disarming the system dynamically based on a distance from alandmark 1402 that comprises a city or other populated area. In thisembodiment, the city 1402 comprises a border 1404. The border 1404 maybe an actual border of the city as defined in property records, or maybe defined otherwise as, for example, a circular line that encompassesthe city, a circle of a particular diameter, or any other shape ofborder intended to have the city 1402 position therein. An outer limit1406 defines a disarmed region 1420. In this embodiment, the outer limit1406 is a generally circular border that is positioned distance 1408 (inthis case 100 miles) away from the city border 1404. Accordingly, thedisarmed region generated based on this landmark or city 1402 willencompass the landmark itself 1402, and extend 360° about the landmark1402 outward 100 miles in each direction from the border 1404. In someembodiments, distance 1408 is measured from a center of the landmark,instead of a border of the landmark. In some embodiments, there may bean upper limit or ceiling to this disarmed area 1406. For example, thedisarmed area 1406 may comprise a cylinder that extends upward from thecenter of the landmark 1402 to an upper limit of 6000 feet, or any otheraltitude. In some embodiments, the upper limit is not flat and may bedome-shaped, pyramid shaped, or the like. The border 1406 of thedisarmed region in this embodiment creates disarmed region 1420 andarmed region 1422. The system can be configured to automatically anddynamically arm or disarm the ejectable flight data recorder systembased on which area of the aircraft is presently in.

FIG. 14B illustrates another example of how the system may be configuredto automatically and dynamically arm or disarm the system based on ageographic position. This diagram illustrates an aircraft 100 flyingover a body of water 1403 that is adjacent to a land portion 1412 havinga coastline 1414. The coastline 1414 is defined as a line along whichthe water 1403 meets the land 1412. In some embodiments, the system maybe configured to approximate this coastline 1414. In this embodiment,the system is configured to position a border 1416 between disarmedregion 1421 and armed region 1423 a distance 1418 (in this case 10miles) from the coastline 1414. In some embodiments, it may be desirablefor distance 1418 from a coastline 1414 to be less than distance 1408from a city or populated area 1402 as shown in FIG. 14A. This may bedesirable, because as you get further into a body of water from acoastline, the amount of people present in that area will likelydecrease much more rapidly than as you get further away from a city orpopulated area over the ground.

FIG. 14C illustrates an example of how the system may be configured todynamically arm and disarm the ejectable flight data recorder systembased on an altitude of the aircraft 100. The diagram shown in FIG. 14Ccomprises a disarmed region 1454 and armed regions 1452 and 1456. Theborder 1458 between the armed region 1452 and disarmed region 1454 isset in this embodiment at 6000 feet. Other embodiments may set thisborder 1458 at other levels, as discussed above. The upper border 1460between disarmed region 1454 and armed region 1456 is set in thisembodiment at the service ceiling of the aircraft 100. In otherembodiments, this upper-level 1460 may be set differently, as discussedabove.

FIG. 15 illustrates a three-dimensional depiction of how various armingconditions based on an aircraft's geographic position and/or altitudemay combine to create various regions, such as disarmed regions 1502 and1504. In this example, disarmed region 1502 comprises a cylinder havinga 100 mile radius about a city 1402. In this embodiment, there is noupper limit to the altitude or height of the disarmed region 1502. Insome embodiments, however, there may be an upper limit to the height ofthe disarmed region 1502. Disarmed region 1504 comprises a shape thatcombines the concepts illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B related to adisarmed region about a populated area 1402 and near a coastline 1414.If the coastline 1414 were not near the city 1402, then disarmed region1504 may be similar in shape to disarmed region 1502, meaning it may bea generally cylindrical region centered on the city 1402. However,because the city 1402 is near the coastline 1414, the arming controllermay be configured to modify the shape of the disarmed region 1504 bybringing the outer border of the disarmed region in closer to the citywhere the city is adjacent the coastline 1414. For example, in thisembodiment, wherever the disarmed region 1504 crosses into the body ofwater 1403, the border of the disarmed region 1504 is set at a distanceof 10 miles from the coastline 1414. However, where the disarmed region1504 does not cross into the body of water 1403, the border of thedisarmed region 1504 is set at a longer distance, in this case 100miles, from the city 1402.

FIG. 15 also illustrates upper and lower altitude thresholds 1460, 1458,respectively, that are configured to control an arming state of thesystem when the system is not within the disarmed regions 1502, 1504.For example, when an aircraft is not within the disarmed regions 1502,1504, the system may be configured to be disarmed when between upper andlower predetermined altitude levels 1460 and 1458, but armed otherwise.

Example Arming and Ejection Process

FIG. 16 illustrates an example embodiment of a process flow diagram thatmay be performed by, for example, the systems illustrated and discussedabove with reference to FIGS. 2 and 13. This process flow diagramillustrates one example of dynamically arming an ejection system,dynamically analyzing multiple ejection conditions, and causingautomatic launching of an ejectable module upon a determination that anejection condition has occurred and that the ejectable module should beejected. This process flow diagram is merely one example of animplementation of an arming controller, ejection controller, andlaunching system, and various other embodiments may operate differentlyto implement the features discussed elsewhere herein, and/or maycomprise more or fewer blocks than are described in FIG. 16.

The process flow begins at block 1602. At block 1604, an armingcontroller and ejection controller monitor one or more sensors and/or anaircraft data bus. For example, the arming controller 220 and theejection controller 222 of FIG. 13 may be configured to monitor varioussensors and a data bus of the aircraft. At block 1606, the armingcontroller determines whether the aircraft is within an altitude-baseddisarming region. For example, the arming controller may be configuredto analyze a present altitude of the aircraft and compare that altitudeto one or more predetermined altitude threshold levels that define oneor more borders between armed and disarmed regions. If the armingcontroller 220 determines the aircraft is within an altitude baseddisarming region, the process flow proceeds to block 1608, and thearming controller 220 disarms the system. The process flow then proceedsback to block 1604, and the arming controller continues to monitorsensors and/or the aircraft data bus.

If the arming controller determines the aircraft is not within analtitude based disarming region at block 1606, the process flow proceedsto block 1610. At block 1610, the arming controller is configured todetermine whether the aircraft is presently within a location-baseddisarming region. For example, the arming controller 220 may beconfigured to analyze GPS or other geographic location data and comparethat data to information that defines location-based disarming regionsbased on distances from various landmarks, such as cities, populatedareas, airports, coastlines, and/or the like. If the arming controllerdetermines the aircraft is not presently within a location-baseddisarming region, the process flow proceeds to block 1612 and the armingcontroller arms the launching system. The process flow then proceedsback to block 1604 and continues as described above. If the armingcontroller determines at block 1610 that the aircraft is within alocation-based disarming region, the process flow proceeds to block 1608and continues as described above.

Now turning to the ejection controller, at block 1614, the ejectioncontroller determines whether a first ejection condition has beendetected. For example, this ejection condition may correspond to theexample ejection condition one from FIG. 13, namely that the systemdetects the aircraft is in an operating state where a crash is likely tooccur at some point in the near future. For example, detection of thisejection condition at block 1614 may comprise detecting a rapid downwardpitch of the aircraft, detecting loss of thrust, detecting an increasingairspeed in a downward direction, detecting a rapid loss of altitude,and/or the like. If the ejection controller detects that condition onehas or is occurring at block 1614, the process flow proceeds to block1616. At block 1616, the ejection controller is configured to calculateor estimate a time to impact. For example, the ejection controller maybe configured to analyze an airspeed of the aircraft, a rate of altitudeloss, an altitude of the ground near the present area or anticipatedimpact area, and/or the like to estimate a remaining time until theaircraft impacts the ground or water. At block 1618, the process flowvaries depending on whether an impact with the ground or water isimminent. For example, based on the calculated time to impact from block1616, the ejection controller may be configured to determine whether theestimated time to impact is within a predetermined threshold, such asone second, five seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, or the like. Bydetermining the estimated time to impact is within such a predeterminedthreshold, this can be considered an indication that an impact isimminent. If an impact is not imminent at block 1618, the process flowproceeds back to block 1614, and the ejection controller continues tocheck whether ejection condition one is still detected. By operating inthis fashion, an inadvertent or premature deployment of the ejectablemodule may be avoided, because the ejectable module will only be causedto eject when an impact is imminent. If the pilot is able to resolve thepresent issue and return to normal flight, the system will desirably noteject the module.

If the ejection controller determines at block 1618 that an impact isimminent, then the process flow proceeds to block 1620. At block 1620,the process flow varies depending on whether the system is armed. Forexample, if the aircraft is presently within a disarming region based onaltitude or location, the arming controller may have disarmed thesystem, and the process flow would proceed back to block 1614 for theejection controller to continue the process as described above. If thesystem is armed at block 1620, however, the process flow proceeds toblock 1622. At block 1622, the process flow varies depending on whetherthe aircraft is on the ground, such as there being weight on the wheels.If the aircraft is on the ground, such as may be determined by thearming controller 220, the system may cause the ejectable module to notbe ejected, and the process flow can proceed back to block 1604 andproceed as described above. If the aircraft is not on the ground atblock 1622, however, the process flow can proceed to block 1624, wherethe launching system, such as launching system 254, can be caused toeject and ejectable system, such as ejectable module 104 illustrated inFIG. 2.

Returning to the process flow blocks implemented by the ejectioncontroller, at block 1626, the process flow varies depending on whethera second ejection condition has been detected. This ejection conditiontwo may, for example, correspond to example ejection condition two ofFIG. 13, namely that a collision is detected. If ejection condition twois detected, the process flow proceeds to block 1620 and proceeds asdescribed above. If ejection condition two is not detected, the processflow proceeds to block 1628, and the ejection controller determineswhether ejection condition three has been detected. Ejection conditionthree may, for example, correspond to example ejection condition threeof FIG. 13, namely loss of bus power without a simultaneous detection ofa shock load. As discussed above, detection of a loss of bus power maybe an indicator that an explosion has occurred. If that loss of buspower does not occur at or around the same time as a shock load, it ispossible that an explosion has not occurred, however, or that a lesssignificant explosion has occurred. Accordingly, it may be desirable towait a predetermined amount of time before launching the ejectablemodule. Accordingly, if ejection condition three is detected, theprocess flow proceeds to block 1630, where a time delay is implemented.This time delay may take various values, such as, for example, nogreater than five, 10, 20, 30, 60 seconds or other values. At block1632, the process flow varies depending on whether ejection conditionthree is still present. If ejection condition three is still presentafter the time delay, the process flow proceeds to block 1622 andproceeds as described above to potentially launch the ejectable module.If ejection condition three is not still present at block 1632, afterthe time delay, the process flow proceeds to block 1634.

At block 1634, the process flow varies depending on whether ejectioncondition four is present. Ejection condition four may be, for example,example ejection condition four illustrated in FIG. 13, namely loss ofaircraft bus power, accompanied with detection of a shock load. Becausesuch a condition is likely to be indicative of an explosion occurring,the system may be configured to proceed directly to block 1622 upondetection of such condition, instead of implementing a time delay 1630.If ejection condition four is not detected at block 1634, the processflow proceeds back to block 1604 and proceeds as described above.

Although this process flow diagram illustrates an example of theejection controller checking for four different ejection conditions,various other embodiments may check for fewer conditions, moreconditions, different conditions, and/or the like.

Starting at block 1636, the process flow diagram illustrates some of theprocesses that may be performed by the launching system, including theejectable system, upon ejection of the ejectable system. These processesmay be performed by, for example, the launching system 254 and ejectablemodule 104 illustrated in FIG. 2, and described above. At block 1636,the ejectable system may deploy a parachute, which may help to control adescent of the ejectable system. At block 1638, the ejectable system canbe configured to detect a landing, either on the ground or water. Atblock 1640, the ejectable system can be configured to detach theparachute from the ejectable system in response to detecting thelanding. This may be desirable, for example, so that to the parachutedoes not cause the ejectable system to be dragged underwater or thelike.

At block 1642, the ejectable system may be configured to deploy anantenna. For example, the embodiment described above with reference toFIGS. 9A-9D may be configured to deploy its external antenna 916. Someembodiments may not have an antenna that needs to be deployed, however.

At block 1644, the ejectable system may be configured to deploy acousticsensors of an acoustic tracking system. For example, the ejectablesystem may be configured to deploy acoustic sensors or hydrophones 1106as illustrated in FIGS. 11C-11E. At block 1646, the ejectable system canbe configured to track a sinking trajectory of the crashed aircraftusing the deployed acoustic tracking system. At block 1648, theejectable system can be configured to transmit data to a remotereceiver, such as a satellite, aircraft, boat, buoy, and/or the like.This data may comprise, for example, flight data stored before theemergency event, location information related to the present location ofthe ejectable module, trajectory tracking information related to thesinking aircraft, and/or the like.

Computing System

FIG. 17 is a block diagram depicting an embodiment of a computerhardware system configured to run software for implementing one or moreembodiments of the ejectable flight data recorder systems and othersystems described herein.

In some embodiments, at least a portion of the systems described abovetake the form of some or all of the computing system 1700 illustrated inFIG. 17, which is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computingsystem that is optionally in communication with one or more computingsystems 1717 (for example, other systems of the aircraft, satellitesystems, ground systems, user access point systems used to configure theejectable flight data recorder system, and/or the like) and/or one ormore data sources 1719 (for example, sensors, inputs, databases,external systems, and/or the like) via one or more networks 1716. Thecomputing system 1700 may be used to implement one or more of thesystems and methods described herein. While FIG. 17 illustrates oneembodiment of a computing system 1700, it is recognized that thefunctionality provided for in the components and modules of computingsystem 1700 may be combined into fewer components and modules, furtherseparated into additional components and modules, and/or in someembodiments the system may comprise fewer or additional components andmodules. For example, a fully-autonomous system may not comprise amultimedia device 1710 and/or user interfaces 1712, although amultimedia device and/or user interface may be desirable in someembodiments, such as to facilitate human interaction with the system,such as for configuration of the system.

Ejectable Flight Data Recorder System Module

In one embodiment, the computing system 1700 comprises an ejectableflight data recorder system module 1706 that carries out one or more ofthe functions described herein with reference to controlling ejectionprocedures and/or accomplishing one or more processes included in theejection procedure and/or after ejection, including any one of thetechniques described above. The ejectable flight data recorder systemmodule 1706 and/or other modules may be executed on the computing system1700 by a central processing unit 1702 discussed further below.

In general, the word “module,” as used in this section with reference toFIG. 17 (but not as used elsewhere in reference to an ejectable module,such as ejectable module 104), refers to logic embodied in hardware orfirmware, or to a collection of software instructions, possibly havingentry and exit points, written in a programming language, such as, forexample, COBOL, CICS, Java, Lua, C or C++. A software module may becompiled and linked into an executable program, installed in a dynamiclink library, or may be written in an interpreted programming languagesuch as, for example, BASIC, Perl, or Python. It will be appreciatedthat software modules may be callable from other modules or fromthemselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events orinterrupts. Software instructions may be embedded in firmware, such asan EPROM. It will be further appreciated that hardware modules may becomprised of connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/ormay be comprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arraysor processors. The modules described herein are preferably implementedas software modules, but may be represented in hardware or firmware.Generally, the modules described herein refer to logical modules thatmay be combined with other modules or divided into sub-modules despitetheir physical organization or storage.

Computing System Components

In one embodiment, the computing system 1700 also comprises a mainframecomputer suitable for controlling and/or communicating with largedatabases, performing high volume transaction processing, and generatingreports from large databases. The computing system 1700 also comprises acentral processing unit (“CPU”) 1702, which may comprise a conventionalmicroprocessor. The computing system 1700 further comprises a memory1704, such as random access memory (“RAM”) for temporary storage ofinformation and/or a read only memory (“ROM”) for permanent storage ofinformation, and a mass storage device 1708, such as a hard drive,diskette, or optical media storage device. Typically, the modules of thecomputing system 1700 are connected to the computer using a standardsbased bus system. In different embodiments, the standards based bussystem could be Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Microchannel,SCSI, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) and Extended ISA (EISA)architectures, for example.

The computing system 1700 may comprise one or more commonly availableinput/output (I/O) devices and interfaces 1712, such as a keyboard,mouse, touchpad, and printer. In one embodiment, the I/O devices andinterfaces 1712 comprise one or more display devices, such as a monitor,that allows the visual presentation of data to a user. Moreparticularly, a display device provides for the presentation of GUIs,application software data, and multimedia presentations, for example. Inone or more embodiments, the I/O devices and interfaces 1712 comprise amicrophone and/or motion sensor that allow a user to generate input tothe computing system 1700 using sounds, voice, motion, gestures, or thelike. In the embodiment of FIG. 17, the I/O devices and interfaces 1712also provide a communications interface to various external devices. Thecomputing system 1700 may also comprise one or more multimedia devices1710, such as speakers, video cards, graphics accelerators, andmicrophones, for example.

Computing System Device/Operating System

The computing system 1700 may run on a variety of computing devices,such as, for example, an electronic board, a server, a Windows server, aStructure Query Language server, a Unix server, a personal computer, amainframe computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a cell phone,a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a kiosk, an audio player, ane-reader device, and so forth. The computing system 1700 is generallycontrolled and coordinated by operating system software, such as z/OS,Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, WindowsVista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Linux, BSD, SunOS, Solaris, Android, iOS,BlackBerry OS, or other compatible operating systems. In Macintoshsystems, the operating system may be any available operating system,such as MAC OS X. In other embodiments, the computing system 1700 may becontrolled by a proprietary operating system. Conventional operatingsystems control and schedule computer processes for execution, performmemory management, provide file system, networking, and I/O services,and provide a user interface, such as a graphical user interface(“GUI”), among other things.

Network

In the embodiment of FIG. 17, the computing system 1700 is coupled to anetwork 1716, such as a LAN, WAN, or the Internet, for example, via awired, wireless, or combination of wired and wireless, communicationlink 1714. The network 1716 communicates with various computing devicesand/or other electronic devices via wired or wireless communicationlinks. In the embodiment of FIG. 17, the network 1716 is communicatingwith one or more computing systems 1717 and/or one or more data sources1719.

Access to the ejectable flight data recorder system module 1706 of thecomputer system 1700 by computing systems 1717 and/or by data sources1719 may be through a web-enabled user access point such as thecomputing systems' 1717 or data source's 1719 personal computer,cellular phone, smartphone, laptop, tablet computer, e-reader device,audio player, or other device capable of connecting to the network 1716.Such a device may have a browser module that is implemented as a modulethat uses text, graphics, audio, video, and other media to present dataand to allow interaction with data via the network 1716.

The browser module may be implemented as a combination of an all pointsaddressable display such as a cathode-ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a plasma display, or other types and/or combinations ofdisplays. In addition, the browser module may be implemented tocommunicate with input devices 1712 and may also comprise software withthe appropriate interfaces which allow a user to access data through theuse of stylized screen elements such as, for example, menus, windows,dialog boxes, toolbars, and controls (for example, radio buttons, checkboxes, sliding scales, and so forth). Furthermore, the browser modulemay communicate with a set of input and output devices to receivesignals from the user.

The input device(s) may comprise a keyboard, roller ball, pen andstylus, mouse, trackball, voice recognition system, or pre-designatedswitches or buttons. The output device(s) may comprise a speaker, adisplay screen, a printer, or a voice synthesizer. In addition a touchscreen may act as a hybrid input/output device. In another embodiment, auser may interact with the system more directly such as through a systemterminal connected to the score generator without communications overthe Internet, a WAN, or LAN, or similar network.

In some embodiments, the system 1700 may comprise a physical or logicalconnection established between a remote microprocessor and a mainframehost computer for the express purpose of uploading, downloading, orviewing interactive data and databases on-line in real time. The remotemicroprocessor may be operated by an entity operating the computersystem 1700, including the client server systems or the main serversystem, and/or may be operated by one or more of the data sources 1719and/or one or more of the computing systems 1717. In some embodiments,terminal emulation software may be used on the microprocessor forparticipating in the micro-mainframe link.

In some embodiments, computing systems 1717 who are internal to anentity operating the computer system 1700 may access the ejectableflight data recorder system module 1706 internally as an application orprocess run by the CPU 1702.

User Access Point

In an embodiment, a user access point or user interface comprises apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, an e-readerdevice, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a GPS system, a Blackberry®device, a portable computing device, a server, a computer workstation, alocal area network of individual computers, an interactive kiosk, apersonal digital assistant, an interactive wireless communicationsdevice, a handheld computer, an embedded computing device, an audioplayer, or the like.

Other Systems

In addition to the systems that are illustrated in FIG. 17, the network1716 may communicate with other data sources or other computing devices.The computing system 1700 may also comprise one or more internal and/orexternal data sources. In some embodiments, one or more of the datarepositories and the data sources may be implemented using a relationaldatabase, such as DB2, Sybase, Oracle, CodeBase and Microsoft® SQLServer as well as other types of databases such as, for example, a flatfile database, an entity-relationship database, and object-orienteddatabase, and/or a record-based database.

Various other modifications, adaptations, and alternative designs are ofcourse possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, it should beunderstood at this time that within the scope of the appended claims theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein. It is contemplated that various combinations or subcombinationsof the specific features and aspects of the embodiments disclosed abovemay be made and still fall within one or more of the inventions.Further, the disclosure herein of any particular feature, aspect,method, property, characteristic, quality, attribute, element, or thelike in connection with an embodiment can be used in all otherembodiments set forth herein. Accordingly, it should be understood thatvarious features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can becombined with or substituted for one another in order to form varyingmodes of the disclosed inventions. Thus, it is intended that the scopeof the present inventions herein disclosed should not be limited by theparticular disclosed embodiments described above. Moreover, while theinvention is susceptible to various modifications, and alternativeforms, specific examples thereof have been shown in the drawings and areherein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that theinvention is not to be limited to the particular forms or methodsdisclosed, but to the contrary, the invention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the various embodiments described and the appended claims.Any methods disclosed herein need not be performed in the order recited.The methods disclosed herein include certain actions taken by apractitioner; however, they can also include any third-party instructionof those actions, either expressly or by implication. The rangesdisclosed herein also encompass any and all overlap, sub-ranges, andcombinations thereof. Language such as “up to,” “at least,” “greaterthan,” “less than,” “between,” and the like includes the number recited.Numbers preceded by a term such as “approximately”, “about”, and“substantially” as used herein include the recited numbers (e.g., about10%=10%), and also represent an amount close to the stated amount thatstill performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. Forexample, the terms “approximately”, “about”, and “substantially” mayrefer to an amount that is within less than 10% of, within less than 5%of, within less than 1% of, within less than 0.1% of, and within lessthan 0.01% of the stated amount.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. Theheadings used herein are for the convenience of the reader only and arenot meant to limit the scope of the inventions or claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for ejecting an ejectable flight datarecorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation, the systemcomprising: an ejectable flight data recorder disposed within alaunching tube, the ejectable flight data recorder configured to beejectable from the launching tube, the ejectable flight data recordercomprising a nonvolatile memory; an ejection system comprising a storedenergy source configured to cause rapid ejection of the flight datarecorder from the launching tube when the ejection system is triggered;and a control system comprising: an arming controller for automaticallyarming and disarming the ejection system based at least in part on datareceived from an aircraft data bus comprising at least position data andaltitude data, wherein the arming controller is configured todynamically disarm the ejection system when the data received from theaircraft data bus indicates the aircraft is currently in at least one ofthe following two situations: (1) the aircraft is within a firstthreshold distance from a first geographic location, or (2) the aircraftis above a lower threshold altitude and below an upper thresholdaltitude; and an ejection controller for automatically triggering theejection system responsive to detection of one or more of a plurality ofejection conditions, wherein the ejection controller is configured todetect the plurality of ejection conditions by analyzing at least aportion of the data received from the aircraft data bus.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the first geographic location comprises one or moreof a populated area, a coastline, or an airport.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the lower threshold altitude is 6,000 feet.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the upper threshold altitude is a service ceiling ofthe aircraft.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the arming controller isfurther configured dynamically disarm the ejection system when theaircraft is within a second threshold distance from a second geographiclocation, the second threshold distance being shorter than the firstthreshold distance.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the firstgeographic location comprises a populated area, the second geographiclocation comprises a coastline, and the arming controller is configuredto disregard the first threshold distance when the position dataindicates that the aircraft is positioned over a body of water.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the control system further comprises abattery for powering the control system if a loss of main bus poweroccurs.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the control system isconfigured to automatically disable itself when the aircraft is on theground to prevent discharging of the battery when the aircraft is on theground.
 9. The system of claim 1, further comprising: one or morecomputer processors configured to receive flight data as stored in aconventional flight data recorder and cockpit voice data as stored in aconventional cockpit voice recorder, and to transmit the flight data andcockpit voice data to the ejectable flight data recorder for storage inthe nonvolatile memory of the ejectable flight data recorder.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the stored energy source comprises at leastone of a propellant, a pressurized gas, or a combination of both tocause a rapid pressurization of the launching tube when the ejectionsystem is triggered.
 11. A system for ejecting an ejectable flight datarecorder from an aircraft in an emergency situation, the systemcomprising: an ejectable flight data recorder disposed within alaunching tube, the ejectable flight data recorder configured to beejectable from the launching tube, the ejectable flight data recordercomprising a nonvolatile memory; an ejection system comprising a storedenergy source configured to cause rapid ejection of the flight datarecorder from the launching tube when the ejection system is triggered;and a control system comprising: an arming controller for automaticallyarming and disarming the ejection system based at least in part on datareceived from an aircraft data bus comprising at least altitude data,vertical speed data, and airspeed data; and an ejection controller forautomatically triggering the ejection system responsive to detection ofone or more of a plurality of ejection conditions, wherein the ejectioncontroller is configured to detect one or more of the plurality ofejection conditions by analyzing at least a portion of the data receivedfrom the aircraft data bus, and wherein at least one of the plurality ofejection conditions comprises an anticipated collision within athreshold period of time, and the ejection controller is configured tocalculate an anticipated time to collision based on at least thealtitude data, the vertical speed data, and the airspeed data.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein at least one of the plurality of ejectionconditions comprises an explosion.
 13. The system of claim 12, whereinthe ejection controller is configured to determine that the explosionhas occurred by detecting both of the following: a loss in main buspower and a shock load above a threshold value.
 14. The system of claim11, wherein at least one of the plurality of ejection conditionscomprises a fire.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the ejectioncontroller is configured to determine that the fire has occurred bydetecting both of following: a loss in main bus power and passage of athreshold amount of time without a return of the main bus power.
 16. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the plurality of ejection conditionscomprise ejection conditions grouped into at least two levels ofauthority, wherein the ejection controller is configured to, responsiveto detection of an ejection condition having a lower level of authority,trigger the ejection system only if the ejection system is armed, andwherein the ejection controller is configured to, responsive todetection of an ejection condition having a higher level of authority,trigger the ejection system regardless of a current arming state of theejection system.
 17. They system of claim 16, wherein at least oneejection condition having a higher level of authority comprises anexplosion or a fire.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the anticipatedcollision within a threshold period of time ejection condition is anejection condition having a lower level of authority.
 19. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the threshold period of time is 0.5 seconds.
 20. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein at least one of the plurality of ejectionconditions comprises a collision, and wherein the ejection controller isconfigured to determine that the collision has occurred by at leastaccessing data generated by one or more collision sensors.